Tales from the Borderlands
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Vault hunter and skilled sniper Michiru Kaioh comes to the planet Pandora looking for treasure and riches, soon finding help from Pandorian native Haruka Tenoh. As they search for the vault together, Michiru finds much more than she ever expected, about love and her true self. Borderlands AU, Haruka/Michiru, rating for violence and adult situations.
1. The Beginning

Author's Note: This series is an on-going work I started posting on tumblr a while ago and now decided to publish here, as well :) it is not strictly necessary to have played Borderlands to understand it, but I'll gladly answer any questions which might come up :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Sadly.

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Tales from the Borderlands: The Beginning

 _Jesus. This planet is a dump._

Anyone else might have had saucier words to describe said planet, but not even in her thoughts, Michiru Kaioh would use them; she was all grace and elegance as she got off to the bus which had taken her from the space ship's landing port to this sorry excuse for a town, every inch the successful treasure hunter she had set out to be when her family's money had begun to run dry.

Ignoring the others who had gotten off the bus with her, she glanced around, frowning at the sorry state of what the driver had claimed was a town called Fyrestone; it more looked as if a bunch of people just had built a few houses randomly and then had come up with a name, but she figured that it was as good a starting point as any in her search for the vast treasure this planet was supposed to hold.

"You got onto the wrong bus, girl?" one of the residents called out as she approached, a rough, obviously uncultured man, perhaps one of those who had been working the mines before the company had decided that it wasn't worth it and had left, without bothering to take the men and women they had hired – or, as rumour had it, bought from prisons all over the galaxy – along; he smirked around the crudely made cigarette in his mouth, eying her unabashedly, taking in her clothing and weapons, his eyes lightning up at the latter.

 _Probably already trying to calculate how much he can get for them_ , Michiru thought to herself, raising an eyebrow, _even though I doubt he realizes how much they are really worth._

Her father's misfortune and mismanagement with money had forced her into this life, into hunting for treasure on planets like this dump called Pandora; her talents had been recognized before all those business deals had gone sour though, and her weapons were the one thing she hadn't let her family sell.

She came from a family which had been on top of the world back on their home planet, for several generations, and which had raised her accordingly, had taught her to be elegant and graceful and poised at all times; she had lived in luxury for most of her life, had been taught the violin and the piano and all things a woman of her status had to know.

And she was the deadliest sniper her home world had ever seen.

"Get back on that bus and go back home to your mansion, little girl", the man mocked her, moving away from the wall he had been leaning against and giving her what he perhaps thought was a threatening sneer, "before you run into the wrong kind of person. Not everyone here is as kind as me."

"How good of you to point out that your behaviour is considered kindness here", Michiru gave back, her lack of fear and the way she smiled at him, the way a shark might smile at a small fish just before devouring it, to her satisfaction clearly making him uneasy, "for I would have missed it otherwise and would have thought you're simply being rude and condescending."

"Whatever", he snarled after a moment, seconds during which she was sure he had tried to figure out if she just had insulted him or not, "hand over your valuables and leave, before I decide to point you out to some of my less friendly buddies. They haven't seen a pretty girl like you in a while, if you know what I mean."

The gun was in her hand before he even realized she had started to move; she waited long enough with pulling the trigger to see his eyes widen, then she fired, and he yelped as he stumbled back, the cigarette which had been hanging from his mouth the whole time blasted into nothingness, his lips tingling where the bullet had passed by, just a hair's breadth from tearing them off his face.

"I did not miss, if that is what you think now", Michiru told him pleasantly, while the others who had gotten off the bus with her laughed and mocked the man, "I know exactly what I am doing. I won my first sharpshooter competition when I was six. Would you like to find out how many of your toes I can shoot off before you pass out from pain and blood loss?"

The only response she got was that he stared at her for another second – before he turned and ran, the laughter of the small group following him and making him move even faster, a small, satisfied smile curling Michiru's lips as she holstered her gun again. Six other people had seen her demonstration of skill, and if each of them only told one other person, it would be enough for the tale to spread quickly; and it couldn't hurt to gain a reputation before moving on from town to what the guys on the bus had called the Badlands, not with all the unsavoury characters trying to make a living there with robbing travellers and treasure hunters like herself.

For now though, she'd be content with finding a place to stay for the night; the only bar of the town was a good starting point for that task, she figured, and, shouldering her small pack of supplies, she made her way there, the building easily identified by the picture of a beer bottle the owner had nailed over the door.

As she pushed the door open, heads turned, several eyebrows wandered up, and talk died down to silence; she took a moment to glance around, then walked up to the bar, pointedly keeping her gaze fixed on the barkeep, a surprisingly young, blonde woman who boldly held her gaze.

"What can I get you", she asked without much preamble as Michiru sat down on one of the bar stools; she glanced at the glass the blonde was cleaning, holding back a grimace at how dirty the cloth she used for the job was, then looked up at her again, making sure to sound neutral and even a bit friendly when she replied. "Bottled water, please. It doesn't have to be cold."

"Smart choice", the blonde replied, moving to the old and somewhat dingy looking fridge behind her, Michiru feeling a bit better about this establishment when she opened it though and it was surprisingly clean on the inside, "one should only drink bottled water here. Water from the wells might give you diarrhoea. The explosive kind."

"Thank you for the detailed mental image", Michiru dryly replied, making the barkeep laugh; she opened the bottle, then put it down in front of her, not bothering to add a glass, and told her "two dollars"; this seemed a bit expensive to the sniper, but she paid without comment, raising an eyebrow when the barkeep immediately spoke on after she had pocketed the money.

"So what brings you here? Let me guess", she started, while the other patrons in the bar picked up their talks again, clearly having lost interest in her, "you're one of the treasure hunters. Looking for the legendary vault which will make you rich beyond your dreams."

"Perhaps", Michiru replied, not wanting to give too much away, "would you know where I'd have to start looking?"

"Perhaps", the blonde mimicked her, smirking when she raised an eyebrow in response, "but I'm not sure why I should tell you. There are many like you, you know."

"I'm well aware of that, yes", Michiru cautiously replied, not sure where this was leading, but figuring it would end with her having to pay the blonde for her information, and perhaps end up getting told some useless urban legend which would take her nowhere; the barkeep smiled at her again, as if she could read her thoughts, then leaned forward on the bar, lowering her voice conspiratorially to make sure no one else heard her.

"Tell you what", she mumbled, the low volume of her voice prompting Michiru to learn forward, as well, making them look like a pair of conspirators, "I'll help you out for free, but you'll need help to get around here, and I'll only help you for free if you hire my buddy for that."

"That will depend on how capable your buddy is", Michiru shot back, raising an eyebrow at the blonde, "and, if they are useful, how much of a cut they will want."

"I'm sure you can settle something", the barkeep smirked at her, then picked up one of the ECHO-devices Michiru had heard of, but never had used herself; she pushed a few buttons before she raised the device to eyelevel, winking at Michiru was she waited for the connection to be made, something which apparently happened not even ten seconds later, evidenced by her speaking up again, at the device this time. "Haruka, it's Minako. Get your butt to the bar, I've got the most awesome deal for you."


	2. A Demonstration of Skill

The door to the bar flew open not even ten minutes after Minako had ended the call, and without a greeting, the new customer stomped up to the bar, sounding mildly annoyed as she addressed the barkeep, not even bothering to look at Michiru.

"If this awesome deal is anything like the idea you had last month, I'm done with you", she threatened, crossing her arms over her chest, while all Michiru could do was stare – she had heard that people here on Pandora were quite different from the circles she'd moved in before her family had gone bankrupt, but she never would have imagined to find someone like this impressively tall blonde here.

"No skags this time", Minako reassured the new guest, "promise. I found you a vault hunter who wants to work with you!"

"Eh?" the tall blonde Michiru figured had to be the Haruka the barkeep had called replied, not all too smart; beaming brightly, Minako gestured at the treasure hunter, a frown creasing Michiru's brow when Haruka gave her a rather unabashed once-over, then raised an eyebrow at her.

"Is this another joke", she then wanted to know, looking at Minako again, "Minako, I told you, I don't have time for your pranks. You at least should have hired a burly guy like that one you kicked out last week, no one will believe this dainty little woman is a vault—"

With one startlingly fast movement – which made Minako squawk – Michiru got up from her seat, grabbed the taller blonde's arm, twisted it up behind her back and made her yelp, then slammed her down onto the bar, holding her there with ridiculously little effort, not even out of breath as she smiled pleasantly.

"I've said this right after my arrival in this pleasant town", she then told Haruka, adding a bit of pressure when the blonde tried to squirm out of her hold, "but that wasn't even an hour ago, so word might not have spread yet, and I'm willing to repeat myself. I won my first sharpshooter competition when I was six, and, as you can see, I'm somewhat versed in hand to hand combat as well. I assure you that I am very capable. Now, my question is – are you?"

She was sure that she had gotten the answer to that question when Haruka stopped struggling and went limp in her grasp, briefly feeling disappointed – the blonde was tall and handsome, just what she liked in her women, albeit a little unkempt – and then sharp pain shot through her foot, and she yelped, involuntarily letting go of the taller woman, glaring at her when she realized what had happened.

"Should have warned you", Minako commented, unimpressed, while Michiru tried to will the pain away so she would be spared the indignity of hopping on one foot while she grabbed the other one, the one Haruka had stepped on with all her might, "Ruka tends to fight dirty. And she's good with a gun."

"And I have a vehicle", Haruka added, "which, if you really are looking for the vault, will make it easier to get there. Well, in theory."

"I'll have to see just how good with a gun you are before I make any decisions", Michiru let her know after giving her another critical look; like most people she had seen on this planet so far, Haruka was lean to the point she was close to haggard, but, unlike others, she appeared to take care of herself, not as dirty and grimy as the other patrons in the bar and the ones she had seen outside.

"Minako is right", she went on, "it would be wise to have someone along who has knowledge about this planet. And the vehicle is a nice additional bonus. Are you willing to demonstrate your skill with a gun to me before we talk about this further?"

"Sure", Haruka shrugged, making Michiru smile – she wasn't sure why she liked the idea of searching for the vault and the treasure it was supposed to hold with this tall lanky blonde, but something about her intrigued her, and the thought of exploring this completely unknown planet alone was much less appealing.

"Right now?" the blonde distracted her from those thoughts, making her nod; apparently, Haruka didn't mind the idea, since she just nodded, then asked her to follow her, leading the way out of the bar with the smaller woman right behind her.

For a moment, Michiru worried if this was some sort of set-up now as she followed Haruka down what she supposed was the main street of Fyrestone; making sure to keep her hand close to the holster of her gun, just in case, she followed the blonde to the outskirts of the tiny town, stopping at a gate which looked as if it would fall over the moment someone might poke it too hard.

"See over there", Haruka spoke up, pointing at an area beyond the gate, a sandy plain with oddly looking piles here and there and what looked like the burrows foxes built on Michiru's home planet, "that's one of the skag territories. You ever seen one before?"

"I don't think I have, no", Michiru replied, relaxing a bit again as she figured that Haruka hadn't brought her to this spot to rob her, "unless we have them on my home world, with a different name."

"Guess you'll find out in a minute", the taller woman smirked, then reached for the gun hanging from her hip; as she pulled it from the holster, Michiru took a critical look at it, a bit dismayed when she recognized it as an older model, but from what she could tell with the brief glance she got at it, it at least was taken care of, looking clean and properly oiled.

"I'm probably not as good as you are with that", the blonde then said, nodding at the sniper rifle Michiru carried strapped to her back, "seeing what you said about winning that competition, but I do hit moving targets."

She raised the gun and fired in the air, prompting Michiru to raise an eyebrow; and moments later, the reaction to the loud noise came in form of a whole bunch of the animals the blonde had referred to as skags making their appearance, rushing out of the barrows, one look at them being enough to tell Michiru that these creatures were unknown where she came from.

They were surprisingly large, bigger than she had expected, and vaguely dog-like; she figured that they'd reach almost to her hips, should they get close enough, but was determined to not let that happen, one look at the bony armour plates which covered their heads and half their length, at the sharp teeth and the big, equally sharp claws being enough to tell her that those animals were best taken care of from afar, before they could within biting or clawing range.

All four of them briefly stopped, glancing around, then spotted Haruka and her; one of them, the biggest, opened its jaws wide to roar, and that was when the blonde fired, three times in quick succession, Michiru watching closely, smiling when each shot hit the open maw, the creature letting out a pitiful whimper before it fell over and, after twitching a few times, died.

Deciding to demonstrate her own skill, Michiru drew her own gun, her shots aimed just as well; and not long after Haruka had fired the first bullet, the fourth and final of the skags went down, small puddles of blood staining the sand and their dark fur.

"Alright", Michiru said once she could be sure they all were really dead and wouldn't jump them again the moment they'd let their guard down, "you do seem quite capable. I imagine we might work well together. Shall we go back to that bar and discuss details?"

"Let's go to my place instead", Haruka suggested in response, "more privacy there, Minako always has patrons in the bar and you don't want them to listen in."

After a moment, Michiru nodded her agreement, figuring that, even if that was part of a bigger set-up, she'd be able to handle Haruka, should the blonde try anything; and just when she wanted to turn and walk back to town, the taller woman moved away from her and towards the dead skags, shrugging at the questioning look the sniper shot her.

"There's good eating on those", she then said, smirking at how Michiru's eyes widened in response; she shrugged again, then bent down and shouldered one of the dead animals, the sniper just shaking her head to herself before she started leading the way back to town at last, silently vowing to herself that she'd stick to water and bread, should Haruka really be serious about eating that dreadful creature.


	3. Living Arrangements

"This is not… skag, is it", Michiru sceptically asked, eying the stew in front of her; had she been any less refined, she might have picked and poked at it with her fork, but being Michiru Kaioh, she just looked, trying to figure out what cooked skag might look like.

"No", Haruka reassured her, from her place across the table – not that there was much table to sit across, the piece of furniture being quite small, as everything in Haruka's home and the house as a whole, "it's Scythid, don't worry, I always make sure to get the non-poisonous ones."

"…okay", the sniper gave back, impaling a piece of meat on the fork and eying it critically; she had no idea what a Scythid was, and the thought that this curious creature came in variants of poisonous and non-poisonous made her a bit uneasy about eating this, but, on the other hand, she had been raised to always be polite when she was a guest somewhere – even if the somewhere in question was more a hovel than a house, in a town like Fyrestone.

"Skag's really good too, though", the blonde babbled on while Michiru carefully tasted the piece of meat, surprised to find that it was quite edible, a bit spicy, with a slightly sweet aftertaste, "but hey, when we get on the road to search for the vault, you'll probably get to taste it, I mean, we can't take that many provisions…"

She trailed off and fiddled with her fork for a moment, then almost hurriedly shovelled food in her mouth; momentarily, Michiru was taken aback, then forced to hold back a smile as she realized that, additionally to her babbling, Haruka was in constant motion, either playing with the fork or tapping one foot on the floor and shifting on her seat.

 _She's nervous_ , Michiru told herself, keeping a close eye on the blonde and her constant movements, _I wonder why? Perhaps because she is not used to entertaining guests in her home, this… house, for lack of a better word, seems almost too small for her on her own._

She held back the urge to glance around the small building; it looked as if Haruka had built it on her own, simply by putting up four walls and a roof on top of them, the main room they sat in containing her kitchen and bed while a rather unstable looking wall with a door made of a corrugated metal sheet separated them from what Michiru thought was her bathroom.

Briefly, she wondered where Haruka thought she'd sleep – the taller woman had offered her to spend the night at her home instead of the top floor of Minako's bar, but from what she could see, there was only one bed, a clearly self-made construction, looking barely big enough for the blonde's tall frame, and surely not made to hold both of them.

Then, she decided to cross that bridge once it was time to go to sleep, and focused on her food again; it was far from the food she'd been used to back home, before the bankruptcy, a simple stew which probably could be best described as "throw it all in a pot and let it simmer", but it was quite tasty and filling, and by the time she emptied her plate, she was pleasantly full.

"Well, then", she stated once they both had finished, holding back the urge to wrinkle her nose when Haruka lit up a hand-rolled, crooked cigarette, bravely hiding her dismay even though it smelled as if the blonde was smoking horse's hair, "now that we have eaten, shall we talk business?"

"Not much to talk", Haruka shrugged, at least considerate enough to blow the smoke away from her, the sharp odour still reaching her though, "I'll help you find the vault and I'll get my share. Thirty percent for me, seventy for you?"

This surprised Michiru somewhat, since she had expected Haruka to go for fifty-fifty; and for once, she couldn't hide her emotions in time, the blonde clearly noticing her surprise, smirking slightly at the way the sniper blinked at her.

"What", she then stated, leaning comfortably into her seat, causing Michiru to briefly fear for her well-being as said chair didn't look all too stable, either, "you thought I'd try to rip you off? Did you take a look around? If the vault holds as much treasure as they say, just one third of it will be enough to grant both Minako and me a very comfortable life here."

"Minako and you?" Michiru repeated, trying hard to ignore the unexpected, but painful pang those words had caused in her chest; momentarily, Haruka looked taken aback, then seemed to figure out what the sniper was aiming for, her eyes widening almost comically before she hurriedly replied.

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that", she reassured the other woman, even though she wasn't quite sure why she wanted to make it crystal clear to Michiru that Minako and she weren't involved like _that_ , "we're just partners. I mean, friends. Partners in her bar, sort of, I help her out and get drinks and stuff for free."

"Ah", Michiru let out, using years of training to hide how absurdly happy this was making her feel, "a working arrangement, then. I imagine there are quite a lot of those on a planet such as this one."

"Yeah, at least in the settlements, like here", Haruka shrugged, finishing her cigarette and getting up from the seat to dump the used plates into the bucket filled with water she apparently used to do her dishes, "I imagine you haven't seen much of Pandora yet, but it's not exactly the nicest place to live. We need to work together to survive."

The sniper nodded in response, thinking back to her first impression of the planet; it seemed a bit strange that she'd only arrived here twelve hours ago, but then again, she figured that she had made progress already, finding an ally who hadn't tried to rob her blind, a place to stay, and having impressed the locals with her skill.

"Alright, then", she interrupted her own train of thought, "thirty for you, seventy for me. Agreed."

They shook hands on the deal, both of them visibly glad that it had worked out so fast and well; and then, Michiru glanced around once more, deciding to be blunt about what else was on her mind, even though it might have been considered impolite.

"So", she said out loud, making the blonde look at her questioningly, "you offered your home to me, which was very kind of you, but… Correct me if I'm wrong, but you only appear to have a rather… small bed."

"Oh, yeah", Haruka agreed at once, yet again making the sniper wonder how she had imagined this arrangement to work, then, "you can have that for the night, it's no trouble. I'll just curl up with my sleeping bag."

"Oh", Michiru replied, not all too smart, having to admit that she hadn't expected this level of generosity – it wasn't the first dump-like planet she had ended up on, ever since she had begun hunting for treasure after her family's bankruptcy, and not the first time that she had allied up with someone, but it was the first time that someone she just had met and barely knew showed her such kindness.

"That's very generous of you", she added after a moment, smiling when Haruka looked slightly bashful in reply, to Michiru's amusement blushing just enough to let it be visible as she murmured that it really was no big deal.

"And, um, you might try to not move around too much during the night", the blonde then added, scratching the back of her head somewhat sheepishly, "cause I built that myself, and it's not all too… stable."

"I'm sure it will be just fine", Michiru reassured her, making her smile back, her blush slowly fading; the two just sat there for another moment, smiling at each other, then the sniper cleared her throat and reached for her rifle, remembering that she had fired it earlier that day and that thus, it had to be properly cleaned before she'd go to sleep.

Seeing her remove a bunch of cleaning tools from the small bag she carried apparently inspired Haruka to take care of her weapon, as well; and for a while, they sat opposite each other in complete silence, the only noises in the small house being the sounds they made as they cleaned their guns, Michiru smiling to herself as, for the first time in weeks, she felt content and suddenly sure that everything would work out just fine.


	4. Into the Badlands

"Your best bet's gonna be the old man", Minako told them early in the next day, the two of them having headed to her bar after breakfast so Haruka could let her know that her little set-up had worked out just fine and that she'd be out of town for a while, "he might know something. He doesn't talk to everyone, but you should be good if you show up there with Haruka, Michiru, he knows her. And just so you know, tall, blonde and lanky, you better bring back awesome treasure or no more free drinks for you."

"I'll give my best", Haruka replied with a roll of her eyes, making Michiru wonder quietly how often Minako called her "tall, blonde and lanky" and how much it annoyed her, "and I'll try really hard not to die, it'd be a shame if you'd have to hunt your own skag from now on, wouldn't it."

"Yes indeed", Minako nodded solemnly, prompting Haruka to roll her eyes yet again while Michiru, in the position of someone listening to people who had known each other for years and not knowing all their little in-jokes and catchphrases, just looked from one to the other, not sure if a smile would be appropriate or not.

"You make sure Haruka doesn't get herself killed, Miss Sniper", Minako addressed her, "not that I have to tell you this, but outside of town, it's rather dangerous. Honestly, none of us knows why the old man decides to live out there. Bandits and crazy wildlife everywhere."

"I assure you that I'm quite capable of making sure your friend will return from this adventure", Michiru gave back, marvelling for a moment at how fast this had happened, and making a mental note to, upon their return, ask Minako why she had chosen her to help, with other treasure hunters showing up on a weekly basis, looking for the vault and all the riches it was supposed to hold, "I wouldn't want to be responsible for something happening to her."

"I'd give you my lucky gun", Minako replied with a small sigh, "but I'll kinda need it here, in case the drunkards get out of hand" – at this point, one of the other patrons let out an offended "Hey!", neither Haruka, nor Minako reacting though, and thus Michiru figured that she didn't have to, either, "so you'll have to make do with your own."

"Well, Michiru's quite well-equipped", Haruka shrugged, gesturing at the sniper rifle the smaller woman carried and the gun on her hip, while one of the other patrons laughed and Minako rolled her eyes; realizing too late that her words could have more than one meaning, Haruka flushed, then grumbled that she'd be in touch when she could via ECHO before she gave Michiru a look which practically yelled "Let's go", prompting her to reassure Minako once more that they'd take care before they headed out of the bar.

"We should take my car to the old man's house", Haruka told the smaller woman as they headed down the main street, "it's not that far to walk, but it can be quite dangerous territory, and sometimes, bandits hang out near the road. If we're in the car, we can just run them over."

"…alright", Michiru gave back after a moment of pause, a bit stunned by how casually the blonde talked about running people over with her car; then, she figured that the town surely had seen its share of bandit attacks, small and unprotected as it was, figuring that none of the inhabitants would be all too concerned about the well-being of the bandits and robbers living out in the Badlands.

Clearly glad about her agreement, Haruka gave her a brief smile, then led the way, to the gate they had stepped out of when she had demonstrated her skill with her gun on a bunch of skags; this time though, she led Michiru a short way down the road, to a somewhat shabby looking shed, the double doors of the structure creaking ominously when she pulled them open – and moments later, Michiru's breath got stuck in her throat as she spotted what Haruka had referred to as her car, her eyes going wide, her stunned reaction making the blonde smirk slightly.

When Haruka had talked of a car, she had imaged a vehicle as they had been used on her home planet, the sleek, aerodynamic cars the upper class of her world had driven; what she found herself looking at now was as far from aerodynamic and sleek as a car could be, a bulky monstrosity made of steel and reinforced with metal sheeting at critical parts, on tires so big that they reached up to her shoulders when she moved for a closer look.

"I call it the Monster", Haruka told her, sounding proud, "well, actually, Minako came up with that name, after she rode in it with me the first time."

"The name certainly fits", Michiru gave back, glancing from the monstrosity to the blonde before she focused on the car again, "did you build this yourself?"

"Most of it, yeah", Haruka let her know, making her raise an eyebrow as she wondered what other hidden talents the blonde might have, "I salvaged the engine from the car of a bandit we took down, repaired that, and then just used whatever parts I could find for the rest. Luckily, they often attack us with their cars, so I could use what didn't get shot up too bad from those."

"Impressive", the sniper mumbled, a slight smile curling her lips when Haruka blushed slightly in response; the blonde took a moment to scratch the back of her head sheepishly, then dug into her pocket and brought out what Michiru figured to be the ignition key for the car, smirking again when she asked her if she was ready to ride.

"I guess so", Michiru gave back, eying the vehicle sceptically, then figuring that it would be alright since apparently, Minako had ridden in it before and was still alive… Only to frown again moments later as she realized that there was no additional seat next to the driver seat, already knowing she'd regret asking when she inquired where she was supposed to sit.

"Oh, up there", Haruka told her, pointing to the very top of the monstrosity, "since you're better with a gun than me, and, as I said, it's a bit dangerous sometimes."

Not sure what to think of this, Michiru looked up at the car, not really surprised to find a machine gun mounted to the top of it – and a seat right behind it, thankfully lowered into a dome of metal, making it marginally more safe than it would have been, had it just been mounted to the top of the car.

"The gunner seat", the blonde added, as if to make sure Michiru hadn't missed the gun, "let's hope we won't need it much, but just in case."

"Well, it will be a new experience for sure", Michiru decided to just roll with it, shaking her head when Haruka asked if she wanted a hand going up; she did like the thought of the blonde touching her to get her up into the seat, but using that help to make it up there could be perceived as weakness, and she didn't know the taller woman well enough yet to allow her to see anything else from her than the capable, ruthless sniper she had to be.

Thankfully, the car had been built in a way which made it rather easy to get up into the gunner seat; to her relief, she made it up there without any mishaps, and once she was seated safely behind the gun and had strapped herself in, quite thankful to Haruka for thinking of adding seat belts, the blonde climbed into the driver's seat, the engine roaring to life moments later.

Slowly, Haruka backed out of the shed, giving Michiru hope that perhaps, this wouldn't be so bad; and then, as the car had been manoeuvred onto the road, those hopes were blown to bits as the blonde stepped down onto the gas pedal and the vehicle roared off into the Badlands, forcing Michiru to bite back an exasperated yelp at the sudden acceleration, her heart leaping up to her throat as she clung to the gun, asking herself if this really had been such a good idea after all.


	5. The Old Man

Thankfully, the drive to the old man's home wasn't all too far, as Haruka had said; they encountered a few skags on the way there, and by the time they saw them, Michiru had gotten used to riding up there in the gunner seat well enough to shoot them, satisfied with her hit rate, allowing herself a few misses on accord of this being the first time she was shooting like this, using a machine gun mounted to the top of a very fast driving car.

"You okay up there?" Haruka called out to her after the skags had been dealt with, left dead behind them; Michiru reassured her that she was, still felt relieved though when what looked like a farm appeared up ahead, with a small field and a house which looked just as shabby as those back in Fyrestone.

To her surprise, Haruka didn't drive right up to it though, but stopped at a fair distance; momentarily, Michiru thought that she just wanted to have a look around, make sure no one was lying in wait for them to ambush them, but when she killed the engine, it became quite obvious that they'd have to walk the rest of the distance.

"We better approach on foot", Haruka confirmed that impression as she got out of the car, prompting Michiru to unbuckle the seatbelts and join her down on the ground, relieved to have firm earth beneath her feet again, "the old man's okay, but his granddaughter can be a handful if she thinks bandits are coming."

"Better to be safe than sorry, then", the sniper agreed, making Haruka nod; together, they started walking away from the car, closer to the house, a sudden feeling of unease nearly making Michiru slow down though, her fingers suddenly itching to hold her gun, even though she couldn't pinpoint where this feeling was coming from.

There was nothing threatening in sight, but the time she had spent as a treasure hunter so far had taught her to listen to her instincts and give in to her hunches; and her instincts were screaming at her in this very second, telling her to be careful, to be on her guard and to be ready to defend herself within the blink of an eye.

Making sure that Haruka wouldn't notice, since she had categorized the old man as okay and Michiru didn't want to offend her by obviously doubting her judgement, she let her hand move closer to the holster on her hip; she wasn't touching the weapon, not yet, but knew that she could have it out of the holster and aim at whatever threat might come up within the blink of an eye.

Her nerves still tingled, prompting her to glance around uneasily, something Haruka apparently didn't notice; and as they got closer to the house, now within yelling distance to anyone who might be inside, the reason for her feelings of unease became clear, in the form of a shotgun blast ripping apart the silent area, dust and small stones flying up two feet ahead, where the shot had hit the ground instead of one of them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa", Haruka cried out, holding her hands up while Michiru, more out of reflex than constant thought, had her gun out already, even though so far, she couldn't see anyone in the building to aim it at, "hold it! It's me, Haruka, from town!"

"I'm not holding anything until your friend puts her gun down", a female voice called back, revealing the one who had shot at them as the granddaughter Haruka had mentioned; the blonde shot Michiru a pleading look, and even though it felt like the wrong thing to do, the sniper holstered her gun again after a moment, keeping her hand close to it though, just in case.

"There", Haruka called out the moment the gun had been put away, "she put it away, can we come closer now? We just want to talk to your grandfather!"

"Go ahead", the voice called back, the owner still hidden from sight somewhere in the house, "but no funny business, you hear? Last time you came here, that blonde friend of yours nearly blew up our garden!"

At this, Haruka winced while Michiru raised an eyebrow, figuring that the blonde friend had to be Minako; knowing though that now wasn't the right time to ask, she filed that little bit of information away for later, nodding when Haruka pointed out that she had brought along a much less dangerous friend this time.

"Her name's Michiru", the blonde added, "she's a vault hunter, she hired me to help her out around here, we're not gonna blow anything up, I swear."

"Fine", came the grudging reply, prompting Haruka to let out a relieved breath; lowering her hands, she got moving again, Michiru keeping up with her, still making sure to keep her hand close to her gun, just in case.

While they approached the house, the front door flew open – with enough force to make Michiru fear the whole building, not looking all too stable, might collapse – and a surprisingly young woman appeared, Michiru guessing that she was a few years younger than herself, probably closer to Minako's age than to Haruka's.

"Come on in", the woman told them, nodding at the house she had emerged from, "you're lucky, Grandpa's awake and wants to talk to you. Don't tire him out."

"Her name's Rei", Haruka whispered to the sniper while said Rei vanished inside the house again, leaving the door open though, "now you know why I said she can be a handful."

"Indeed", Michiru agreed at once, eying the shotgun Rei had leaned against the wall next to the door; it was an older model, just like Haruka's, but Rei clearly took good care of it, and Michiru didn't want to imagine the damage it might have done, had the other woman shot at them instead of the ground in front of them.

"Haruka, welcome", a new voice, with the scratchy sound men often developed when getting older, interrupted those dark thoughts, "it's been a while, you didn't bring your friend with her grenades, did you?"

"No, Mister Hino", Haruka replied at once, a bit sheepish, "I did bring a friend, but another one and she has no grenades. And if she had any, she wouldn't toss them around here."

"Michiru Kaioh", Michiru decided to do her own introduction this time, instead of letting the blonde do it the way she had done with Rei, "pleased to meet you."

As she spoke, she took a closer look at him; he was surprisingly tiny, making her wonder if Rei's height had come from the other side of the family, the few hairs he had left on his head and his rather thick eyebrows a mix of grey and white. Still, Michiru figured that he could defend himself, should the need to arise; his hand wasn't shaking when he held it out to her in greeting, and his grip was strong – and her trained eyes easily spotted the bulge beneath his vest where he kept his gun hidden, even though someone who didn't know what to look for might have missed it.

"Kaioh, eh", the old man surprised her, smirking at her, "I know that name. Been big on another world, but went belly-up, eh? So you are hunting for treasure to bring them back to the top?"

"Something like that, yes", Michiru gave back, not wanting to delve too deeply into her reasons with a complete stranger, but not wanting to lie, either; and while she still wondered how the old man had learned of her family and their misfortune on this dump of a planet, he nodded and smiled, apparently satisfied with the honesty of her answer.

"I know a bit about the vault", he then told her, "not much, mind you, but a bit more than your average joe on this planet. First and most important, you'll need a key to access it."

Michiru had heard this before, but, not wanting to risk his willingness to talk, she just nodded; he took a moment to shift in his seat, then continued, both the sniper and her blonde companion listening eagerly as he now started to tell them things they hadn't known before.

"I know the key has been broken", he told the two, making Michiru raise an eyebrow as this was new to her – she had heard that someone on Pandora was in possession of the key, but her sources hadn't mentioned anything about the thing having been broken.

"I know the location of two parts", the old man went on, "the other two, I only heard rumours and hear-say, nothing definite. One of them has been taken by a bandit leader who has his camp not far from here, Haruka, you may know him as Nine-Toes. The other is in the hands of a scientist who came here to study the key and the vault, she's supposed to have her camp up in the Arid Badlands."

"A lot of the areas here are called something-or-other-Badlands", Haruka added to that, making Michiru nod; she figured that knowing the location of two of the key parts was a good start, and that surely, they'd find out where the other two were during their quest to get the first two.

"And I've heard of that bandit", Haruka went on, making the sniper look at her, "he's, well… not described as exactly sane. Which is probably why he could beat a bunch of other bandits into submission and make them follow him, that takes quite a bit around here."

"You know what he looks like?" Michiru wanted to know in response, smiling that certain smile again which she knew unsettled people, even though, to her credit, Haruka didn't seem ruffled by it at all, "cause as long as you can point him out to me, he won't be a problem."

"Michiru's a sniper", the blonde clarified at the curious look Rei shot her at hearing that, "I haven't really seen her in action yet, apart from taking down a bunch of skags, but talk around town is that she's really good."

"You have to be if you want to find the vault", Grandpa Hino commented, "many others have tried before you, and many others have failed."

"I won't fail", Michiru gave back, the confidence in her words and tone making the old man smile; and just when he appeared as if he wanted to say more, the loud roar of engines came up in the distance, Rei snapping to attention immediately and hurrying for the door, Michiru not surprised the slightest when she grabbed her shotgun before she peered out the window, making sure the heavy curtain kept her hidden from sight.

"Well", she then said, glancing at Michiru again, "seems you like get a chance now to show off how good you really are, cause we got company. Two cars, three bandits each, and Haruka, they stole your gunner seat idea."

"Bastards", Haruka grumbled in response, her gun already in her hand while the sound of engines came closer; she moved to the window next to Rei, peering out as well, and while she did that, Michiru made her way to the only other window in the room, taking firm hold of her sniper rifle, the curious calm which always came over her in such situations taking over as she got ready to take out as many of them as possible before they could get any closer.


	6. Boom, Headshot

The first priority, Michiru decided, had to be the bandits in the gunner's seat, their machine guns capable of taking the house apart completely, should they decide to use them for that; her breathing slowed as she focused, tuning out the talk of Haruka, Grandpa Hino and his granddaughter, her hands perfectly still when she lifted the rifle, using the window sill as support.

Noticing what she was doing, Haruka stopped her own preparations, watching her closely, eager to find out how good she really was; the bandits were still a good distance away, and in fast moving vehicles no less, the blonde knowing from experience how hard it could be to land a hit under such circumstances.

If Michiru noticed her watching, she didn't let it show, not even glancing at her for a second as she went down on one knee, the rifle's sight now just on eyelevel for her, making it easy for her to focus on her target.

Without noticing it, Haruka held her breath as she looked from her to the quickly approaching cars; she had a second to wonder which one the sniper would go for first, then the shot tore apart the silence, and the head of the bandit in the left car's gunner seat snapped back, a spray of blood visible despite the distance, signalling that Michiru had hit her target.

The sniper rifle shifted, just the tiniest bit, while the bandits still were yelling at the sudden death of their comrade; and not even five seconds after the first shot, the second one followed, and the second man fell from the gunner's seat, just as dead as the first one, Haruka finding herself unable to do anything but stare at Michiru now, deeply impressed by the ease with which she had landed those two headshots.

"…wow", Rei murmured, clearly impressed, as well; and now, Michiru did react, giving them just the briefest glance and a small, tight smile before she focused on her targets again, the driver of the left vehicle falling off and into the dust seconds later as another shot rang out, the only man left in this car crying out in a panic as he scrambled to get hold of the steering wheel.

Not wanting to give him the chance, Rei aimed at her shotgun at the vehicle, then pulled the trigger; to Michiru's surprise, flames began to flicker where the pellets had hit the car and the bandit, the man yelling in pain now as he started beating down on the flames, losing his balance and vanishing beneath the other car seconds later.

By now, Haruka had her gun out, as well, aiming for the tires of the other, still manned car; she fired a few shots, darkly satisfied when one of them was an obvious hit, then Michiru's sniper went off yet again, the driver of the second vehicle joining his mates in the dust as she once more proved just how skilled she was with her rifle.

This left just one of them alive, and, just like his unfortunate companion, he scrambled for the steering wheel; Haruka put an end to that with a well-aimed shot, momentarily proud that she had made the hit – it hadn't been a perfect headshot like the bullets Michiru had fired, but it had done enough damage, the bandit slumping down lifelessly while the cars slowly came to a halt, all the people who had been riding them now dead.

"Well", Rei commented after the engine noise had died down at last, "seems like you are as good as you say. That was impressive."

"Which, coming from Rei, means it was freaking awesome", Haruka practically gushed, Grandpa Hino nodding his agreement, "honestly, I don't think I know anyone else who could have made those shots as perfect as that. That was great."

Anyone else might have feigned modesty now, and perhaps might have thanked the blonde for the kind words; Michiru wasn't like most people though, and thus, she just nodded, not bothering the slightest to pretend that she had thought anything else of her own skill.

"Well, then", she said instead, moving to the table and sitting down there to clean her rifle, prompting the other two women to do the same, "now that we got rid of this most recent threat, Haruka, I suggest we head out to find this bandit next. Nine-Toes, you said his name was?"

"Yes", the blonde agreed, briefly pausing the cleaning of her own weapon as she was fascinated by how fast and nimble Michiru's fingers moved, hurriedly polishing her thoughts before they could drift off to images of those fingers moving like that somewhere else, "we can still go and scout out his camp, it's not that far from here. But first, we should see if we can salvage anything from those cars."

Nodding her agreement, Michiru finished the cleaning and re-assembling of her rifle, then slung it onto her back again; eager to compensate Grandpa Hino for the help he had provided for them, she started to bring out her wad of money, raising an eyebrow in surprise when the old man immediately shook his head.

"We have no use for your money", he then let her know, "if word gets out that you pay the people who point you into the right direction, you'll not only have a million men and women lining up to give you hints, but it'll also cause more bandit attacks. If what I know turns out to be useful, payment after you found the vault and the treasure will be enough."

"…alright", Michiru agreed after a moment, not sure what to think of this; she pocketed the money again, almost expecting the old man to tell her that he had changed his mind, not used to anyone giving her anything for free, especially not since she had left her home planet to search for treasure, "thank you. I'll make sure you'll be compensated once we found the vault."

The old man just nodded in response, giving her a bright smile; then, Rei gained the sniper's attention again by asking if they were ready to go salvage the cars now, making it Michiru's turn to nod, the three of them heading out to the vehicles moments later.

"I was surprised to see you use that kind of gun", Michiru remarked to Rei as they reached the cars and started going through the pockets of the dead men, looting ammunition and money from them, "I didn't know Maliwan technology had spread that far. How much did you pay for this?"

"Nothing", Rei smirked, with a brief, proud glance at the shotgun, "I took it off a dead bandit. I have been using it ever since, that added fire effect is really quite practical."

"I thought about getting one of their sniper guns", Michiru let her know in response, briefly wondering where the bandit Rei had mentioned had gotten that gun – Maliwan guns were some of the most advanced and expensive out there, rare even in the upper class of her homeworld, "but with the customizations I wanted, the price would have been ridiculous."

Briefly, she thought back to the purchase of her rifle; she had gotten it before everything about her family's finances had gone to hell, but already back then, the bankruptcy had been looming on the horizon, and her mother, in a rare bout of talking back to her father, had made sure that not too much money would be spent on her weapons, being the one who never really had approved of her talents, thinking that shooting things was no proper pastime for a lady.

"Here", Haruka's voice distracted her from those thoughts, making her look over at the blonde, "he had some sniper rifle ammunition, I suppose you have tons, but better have too much than not enough, huh?"

"Indeed", Michiru agreed at once, accepting the ammunition and pocketing it; they made sure that they hadn't missed anything else, going through all the pockets of the bandits and the bags on their cars once more, then finally parted ways, Rei heading back to her home while Haruka and Michiru got back into the blonde's vehicle, ready to scout out their next target.


	7. Scouting the Boneyard

By now, Michiru had mostly gotten used to sitting up in the gunner seat, despite Haruka's rather reckless driving style; she wasn't sure if she'd ever get fully used to it, especially not during the times the blonde was driving over rough terrain instead of on a road, and she got bounced around quite a bit up there, but it wasn't as terrifying anymore as the very first ride had been.

Up ahead in the distance, a few columns of smoke caught her eye, distracting her from her thoughts; she wondered if this was the bandit camp of that guy Nine-Toes, but before she could ask Haruka if that assumption was right, the vehicle slowed, then stopped, the blonde squirming in her seat so she could look up at her.

"His camp's there", she let her know, confirming her thoughts, "we shouldn't drive too close or they might notice us. They're one of the more vicious bandit groups around. They raided our little village once and a lot of people got hurt."

"Well, we can pay them back for this now", Michiru gave back, smirking a malicious little smile as she climbed from the gunner seat, hopping the last bit and landing elegantly next to the vehicle, "and I imagine that, once we take out their leader, they'll be much less motivated to make trouble."

"If there are any left", Haruka told her as she got out of the car as well, "he's crazy, but not stupid, he'll probably have guards."

"A whole camp of bandits against the two of us, then", Michiru commented as she checked her weapons, making sure they were loaded and that the safety was off, just in case she'd have to act quickly, "and here I thought this search for the vault might be tedious."

"We can get backup?" Haruka suggested, not really surprised though when Michiru shook her head; smiling that malicious smirk again, one Haruka hoped would never be directed at her, the smaller woman gestured at her rifle, sounding pleasant when she replied, as if she was talking about the weather and not about her deadly skills.

"This rifle holds six bullets", she told the blonde, "which I can fire in less than thirty seconds. Assuming that I will land six headshots, which I usually do, that's six bandits less before the rest even realizes we are there. It takes me twenty seconds to reload, by then, they might be running around in a panic or, which would be better, standing still, trying to find out where I am. Another six down, and then, you can get to work, while I will support you from cover."

"If anyone else said that, I'd worry about getting shot on accident", Haruka commented, making her smile much kinder in reply, "but I've seen how you handle that rifle, so, fine with me."

"I appreciate your trust", Michiru replied, then nodded towards the columns of smoke, "shall we, then?"

Nodding, Haruka quickly checked her own gun, not wanting to stand there with an empty magazine after a few shots; satisfied, she started walking, Michiru right behind her, both of them keeping an eye out for any bandits who might be patrolling the area.

"They don't worry about security much, do they", Michiru commented as they got closer to the camp, earning a shrug from the taller woman; gesturing at the rock formation up ahead, Haruka still made sure to keep her voice low as she replied, not wanting to accidentally alert any of them to their presence before Michiru had managed to pick a few of them off.

"Their camp is kinda wedged between this rock and a bigger one behind it", she let the sniper know, "there's only this little narrow entrance, which they can keep easily guarded with just a guy or two. Guess that is why they don't patrol."

"Still sloppy", Michiru replied, shaking her head, "this rock is rather jagged, which makes it easy to climb. As I will demonstrate in a few… minutes…"

She trailed off as they got closer and she got a good look at the area around the rock they had been talking about; raising an eyebrow, she stopped walking and just looked, taking it all in, having to admit that she hadn't expected this, not even after Haruka had told her that Nine-Toes was crazy.

In a radius of fifteen feet around the rock, the whole area was strewn with bones, and from what she could tell after her quick glance, more than half of them were human.

"People they killed when they tried to attack", Haruka explained, rather unnecessarily, "and probably bones of the animals they eat. Some folks back at the village call this area the Boneyard."

"Quite fitting", Michiru commented, briefly wondering what it had been called before the bones had started collecting, then shrugging it off as not important, "and possibly quite intimidating… to other people."

"If I didn't know we're on the same side, I'd find you quite terrifying", Haruka gave back, earning another smirk and a shrug from the sniper – before she got moving again, ignoring the bones as she walked to the rock, ready to do some damage to the camp and hopefully get one step closer to the vault.

* * *

Since part of their small plan included Haruka storming the camp with blazing guns once Michiru had done her part at the beginning, the sniper climbed the rock alone; it wasn't quite as easy as she had thought it would be, but she managed, taking just a bit longer than anticipated to reach the top and find a good spot.

To her slight relief, none of the bandits in the camp was thinking about looking up, but she still got down on her stomach, crawling forward slowly, until she had found the best possible position; she glanced up into the sky, making sure that the sun wouldn't reflect of her rifle's barrel and give her away, then wet her index finger on her tongue and held it up to judge the breeze, darkly satisfied when she felt just the lightest bit of wind, not enough to cause her bullets to stray from their path.

Briefly, she thought of Haruka, who laid in wait down there, and of the responsibility she had taken on when she had agreed to snipe a bunch of them before the blonde would go in – if she messed this up, and there were too many of the bandits left, each of them increased the chance of Haruka getting hurt, and she didn't want that.

 _Because you need help to find the vault_ , she sternly reminded herself, _not because you like her. You don't even really know her, and you don't have time for this, anyway._

Rigorously, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind, telling herself that she had to focus on the task at hand now and that thoughts of the way the sun made Haruka's hair glint like spun gold weren't helping with that; a few deep breaths helped her to get those under control, and she finally focused on the bandits, glad that apparently, none of them had an idea they were there, some of them standing in small groups and talking, others lounging in the sun or taking care of their equipment, a few sitting around the fires they had burning here and there, roasting what looked like skag to Michiru.

All in all, she counted a total of sixteen bandits, figuring that, with the element of surprise, Haruka should be able to take care of the four which would still be left by the time she'd be done; she took another deep breath, then positioned her rifle, quickly deciding in which order she'd shoot them.

She hadn't been bragging when she had told Haruka that she could empty the magazine in less than thirty seconds, and just like she had anticipated, she landed six headshots in that short timespan; and while the bandits were still trying to figure out what was happening and where this attack was coming from, she reloaded, then started firing again, feeling darkly satisfied when another six dropped dead in quick succession.

She had a second to wonder if Haruka had been counting her shots and knew that it was time for her to act now; and the blink of an eye later, rapid machine gun fire filled the air as the blonde came storming in, mowing two of the remaining four bandits down before they knew what had hit them.

The two left standing dove for cover, then started firing blindly; they weren't caring where their shots were going, Michiru noted as she reloaded again, her gaze darting back and forth, from the bandits to Haruka, who had found some cover of her own behind one of the shabby looking huts of the camp, and it was sheer luck that she didn't miss the vaguely egg-shaped object one of the bandits tossed out, into the general direction the blonde had shot from.

Michiru's eyes went wide as she recognized it for what it was, and even though she feared Haruka might not be able to hear her, she shouted out a warning, just a single word – but it had been loud enough, and it had been enough to get Haruka moving again.

" _Grenade!"_ Haruka and the bandits heard the sniper's cry, Haruka cursing under her breath as she spotted it a second later, rolling towards her; a daring dive brought her out of the immediate danger zone as the grenade exploded, put her out in the open though, the bandits shouting their anger at what Michiru and she had done at her as they opened fire again.

Hurriedly, Michiru moved her rifle slightly so she had one of them in her crosshairs, not even caring that she wouldn't hit his head as she pulled the trigger; the bullet got him in the chest instead of the head, but finished him off just as well, and a few seconds later, his comrade fell, too, after having taken a blast of bullets from Haruka's machine gun, the camp silent afterwards, making Michiru wonder if they already had gotten Nine-Toes or if he was hiding somewhere, after having seen how skilled they were.

Figuring that there was only one way to find out, she slung the rifle onto her back, then quickly climbed down to meet Haruka; a quick once-over didn't reveal any blood on the blonde's clothes, but still she asked if Haruka was alright, feeling absurdly relieved when the taller woman nodded at once.

"Thanks for the warning, by the way", she then said, gesturing at the spot where the grenade had exploded, "I would have missed that one."

"Don't mention it", Michiru shrugged it off with a little wave of one hand, "I need you in one piece so we can get to the vault. Speaking of which, was Nine-Toes among the guys we just killed here?"

"No", Haruka replied at once, to her dismay, then gestured at the largest hut of the camp, "he's probably in there, getting ready to fight back. You ready to take him on?"

In response, Michiru just smiled, then pulled her gun from the holster; and apparently, this had been all the answer Haruka had needed, since she, in response, reloaded her own weapon, then started off towards the hut, Michiru close behind her, the adrenalin rush of what just had happened still making her heart beat faster, along with the certainty that soon, she'd have more information about the vault and where to find it.


	8. Piece of the Puzzle

"You've got to be kidding me", Michiru half said, half groaned, the annoyance in her tone making Haruka smirk, even though the blonde felt quite similar; after they had taken out his men, they had been sure that the first piece of the key to the vault would be in their grasp soon, and now, after they had entered and searched the hut of the bandit who was supposed to have it, they had found, to their dismay, that he had used a rather well-hidden trapdoor to escape into some sort of underground tunnel system, neither of them having an idea how large said system was.

"Guess we have to follow him", the blonde said out loud, earning an unhappy look from Michiru in response, both knowing how dangerous this could be – they neither knew how big this tunnel system was, nor how many men he had down there with him, if any traps had been readied for them or if, perhaps, they were walking right into an ambush.

"Let me go first", Michiru gave back, "no offense, but I do believe I draw and shoot faster than you do." _Also_ , she added mentally, words she knew she could never say out loud to her companion, _I don't want you to get hurt. This is my quest, I'm not going to repay your help by getting you injured or even killed._

"Be my guest", Haruka distracted her from those thoughts, to her relief not trying to argue about who should go first, "but we better be super careful, who knows what that maniac has down there."

Nodding, Michiru checked her weapons once more, making sure they were properly loaded and ready to use; she wasn't sure she'd need her sniper rifle down there, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and only when she had reassured herself that both her handgun and the rifle were fully loaded, she climbed down into the tunnel, Haruka following suit, both of them slightly relieved that a row of lamps lit the way, keeping them from having to stumble around in the weak glow of the flashlight Haruka had brought along.

It was unsettling how quiet it was, Michiru thought to herself, their footsteps echoing unreasonably loud despite their tries to be quiet; somewhere in the distance, she could hear something drip, the noise and the way the lights flickered every now and then not making her feel any better about this unexpected underground adventure.

Glancing down, hoping for footsteps or other tracks she could make use of, the sniper was dismayed to find herself looking at a hard-packed dirt floor, too hard for anyone to leave footprints in it, making her wonder if this was a natural tunnel system or if it had been made by Nine-Toes and his men, for an occasion such as this one.

Then, another sound joined the dripping, an unsettlingly loud, heavy breathing; clearly, Haruka had heard it too, since Michiru noticed her steps falter behind her for a moment, her hand on the sniper's shoulder moments later, and even though she sounded carefully controlled, Michiru could tell at once how tense she was.

"Better let me take the lead", she murmured, keeping her voice low, even though they both figured that, just like their footsteps, it would carry, "if this noise is made by what I think, my machine gun will be more useful than your rifle and pistol."

"What do you think it is?" Michiru demanded to know, not liking the tense note she had heard in the blonde's voice; before Haruka had the chance to reply though, the breathing sounded even louder – before a massive figure appeared up ahead, roaring as it spotted them, Haruka reacting at once by tightening her grip on Michiru's shoulder and shoving her behind her rather harshly, her free hand simultaneously pulling the machine gun free from its holster.

Roaring at the sight of the weapon, the creature Michiru now recognized as an absurdly muscled and large man raised a massive fist – and then charged at them, never stopping the monstrous roar, sounding more like an animal than a human being, the shouts he was letting out mixing with the _rat-tat-tat_ of Haruka's gun as she opened fire on him seconds later.

Until this very moment, Michiru had stoically dealt with everything this strange planet had thrown at her, from the aggressive wildlife to the unsettlingly large number of violent inhabitants it had; at the sight of the giant man storming towards them though, apparently not even feeling the shots she could see hit home so clearly, she felt the ease with which she handled everything evaporate, her heart beating faster and her mouth going dry.

In front of her, Haruka kept firing, until she had emptied the magazine; at the _click click click_ which replaced the previous sound, Michiru snapped out of her stunned state, her pistol in her hand the blink of an eye later; just as she brought it up to fire though, the giant had reached them and slammed into Haruka, driving her back and against the sniper, making it impossible for her to get the gun into a position which would let her fire it without endangering Haruka.

Still roaring, unhindered by the numerous bullet wounds in his torso, the man started beating down on the blonde; Michiru heard her grunt a few times in pain, but instead of fighting back, she just kept groping for something at her belt, the smaller woman realizing what she tried to do just a second before Haruka's fingers finally found the hunting knife.

Michiru had a moment to wonder what the knife might do, if bullets hadn't stopped the man, then Haruka rammed it forward with all the strength she could bring up; she buried the blade in the guy's throat, all the way to the hilt, then jerked it back out and stabbed him again, apparently at least making him feel a bit of pain this time, since he recoiled with another roar – and gave Michiru just the chance she had been waiting for.

Without missing a beat, she brought her gun up, took a second to aim, then fired; his head snapped back into his neck as the bullet hit, and his roar died down to a gurgle, blood streaming from the wounds in his neck and the bullet hole in his head as he slumped down, twitching a few times, then lying still, the tunnel suddenly quiet again, the only sounds being the soft dripping in the distance and Haruka's heavy breathing.

"Are you…" Michiru started to ask her if she was alright as she turned to look at her, then fell silent, her eyes briefly widening as she took in the blood which streamed down the blonde's cheek; for a few dreadful seconds, her mouth went dry again, then she realized where it was coming from and instantly felt better, the wry smirk Haruka gave her helping quite a bit with that, as well.

"Got in a lucky hit", the blonde mumbled, reaching for the cut which split her eyebrow; before she could touch it though, Michiru grasped her wrist, giving her a strict look in response to the surprised one she received.

"Don't touch it just like that", she scolded, pulling Haruka's hand back down as if to make sure the taller woman really would keep her fingers away from the cut, "you'll get dirt in it and it'll get infected. Wait…"

She dug through her pockets until she found a reasonably clean piece of cloth; it wasn't the perfectly sterile bandage she would have preferred, but she figured that it'd be better than Haruka's fingers, warning her that this might sting a bit before she started dabbing at the cut, her relief only growing when she got some of the blood off and saw that it wasn't nearly as bad it looked, but only had bled unreasonably much, as injuries in that area tended to.

"What the Hell was this guy made of", she wanted to know as she kept cleaning the wound the best she could, Haruka bravely bearing it without even flinching, even though she did grit her teeth now and then, "you shot him two dozen times and he kept coming!"

"No one knows for sure", Haruka gave back with an unhappy glance at the dead brute, "the only thing we do know is that those guys kept popping up more and more ever since that company gave up mining here and took off. Some think they've been made this way by chemicals used in the mines, others think the company experimented on them and guys like him were the result. We call them Psychos."

"Fitting", Michiru dryly replied, figuring that the cut was as clean as she could get it with her limited supplies and carelessly tossing the bloodied cloth aside, making a mental note to take proper care of the wound later, once they were out of these tunnels, "let's hope there was just one of them around. Can you go on?"

"Sure", Haruka shrugged, clearly not all too bothered by the cut, "just let me reload my gun and I'm good to go."

Nodding, Michiru did the same with her handgun, then holstered it again; and moments later, they were walking again, moving deeper into the tunnels, eager to find the bandit and get out of there again before any more unpleasant surprises might find them.

* * *

To Michiru's relief, they neither encountered more Psychos, nor any traps; they kept walking through the tunnels, checking the passages breaching off left and right each time to make sure they wouldn't miss their target, Michiru constantly looking out for tracks, and finding some here and there, just enough to tell them they were going the right way.

Still, it seemed as if they had been walking for hours by the time they finally heard voices up ahead; Michiru knew that it hadn't been that long, but the tension after the Psycho's attack never had left her, having resulted in her straining her ears for the slightest sound which might indicate another one of those men waiting for them up ahead, a constant level of focus she knew would take a toll on her later.

For now though, she knew that she had to stay alert, her hand dropping to her holster as she heard several men talk up ahead; hoping that this time, Nine-Toes would be among them, she moved on soundlessly, taking the lead again, Haruka right behind her, just as quiet as she was.

Apparently, the men had no idea they were there, from what they were talking about, laughing about a rather tasteless joke one of them had made; not wanting to lose the element of surprise this would give them, Michiru made sure to keep quiet as she moved closer to the door at the end of the tunnel, suddenly sure that only this thin wooden barrier was between her and the first piece of the vault key.

As she reached the door, she glanced back at Haruka, silently asking her if she was ready; the taller woman gave a brief, terse nod in response, and after a few slow, controlled breaths, Michiru grasped the door handle with exceeding care, not wanting it to move the slightest before she was ready – and then, she slammed the door open, gun already in hand, taking in the number of men – four – and their positions with one skilled look, and firing twice before they even realized she was there, two of them falling in quick succession, her bullets finding their heads with frightening accuracy.

The third one just had time to reach for his gun, then he fell, as well, joining his comrades in whatever afterlife there might be; the fourth one hadn't been caught completely off-guard though, Michiru having a second to recognize the weapon he swung her way as a shotgun, then she was already ducking to the right, taking cover in the tunnel, squeezing her eyes shut when he fired and the lead shot blasted past Haruka and her, the blonde thankfully having followed her lead when she had taken cover.

"You won't take me down so easily!" the bandit shrieked, in a surprisingly high voice which grated on her nerves after those few words already, "I am Nine-Toes! And I have three balls, too!"

"This was a piece of trivia I did not need to know", Michiru told Haruka, earning a low snort in response; she briefly smiled, then focused again, listening closely for any movement of the bandit boss, figuring that he wouldn't just stand there and wait for her to shoot him.

Briefly, she regretted that she hadn't brought any grenades, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a quick way to end this; as if he had realized what she was doing, and tried to distract her, Nine-Toes fired again, thankfully hitting neither her, nor Haruka, both of them safe behind their cover.

Giving her best to not even breathe too loud, Michiru focused on listening again, trying to figure out if he had moved and where he had gone; she figured that he'd found some sort of cover, as well, recalling an image of the room and remembering that, apart from the flimsy looking wooden table the bandits had been sitting at when they had surprised them, there hadn't been anything else he could have used to hide behind.

She signalled to Haruka to stay where she was, then risked a quick peek; and just as she had suspected, Nine-Toes had thrown the table over and had taken cover behind it, his eyes meeting hers as he had chosen the exact same moment to take a look, Michiru throwing herself back into the tunnel just as he fired his shotgun at her once more.

"Cross your fingers that this table is as flimsy as it looks", she whispered to Haruka, earning a brief nod from the blonde; she took another moment for a controlled, deep breath, then, in one smooth movement, leaned into the doorway again, brought up her gun and fired, moving back into cover the second after she had pulled the trigger, thus only hearing the bullet smash through the wood, followed by the bandit's pained cry.

"Once again, I'm glad we're on the same side", Haruka commented, earning a brief smile from the sniper; keeping her gun ready, Michiru then stepped into the room, the soft groans she could hear from behind the table telling her that Nine-Toes wasn't quite dead yet.

At least though, he had dropped his shotgun when the bullet had hit; Michiru stepped around the table just as he reached for it, and a quick swipe of her foot brought it out of reach, the bandit groaning in both pain and dismay in reaction.

"We better make sure he doesn't have another weapon hidden somewhere", Haruka stated as she moved to stand next to her, "I'll search him."

Nodding, Michiru kept her gun aimed at the bandit while Haruka quickly patted him down, neither of them surprised when the blonde found another gun, smirking as she made sure that the safety was on, then tucked it into her belt.

"We know that you have a piece of the key", Michiru told him, unimpressed by the glare he levelled her way in response, "where is it?"

"I'm not telling you anything, bitch", he snarled, blood dripping from his lips as he spoke; shrugging, Michiru smiled at him, a cold, calculated smile, the same coldness in her voice when she replied.

"Then don't", she casually told him, continuously unruffled by the hateful way he kept staring at her, "I'm sure we'll find it around here somewhere. Someone like you wouldn't leave an object like this hidden anywhere too far from them."

The way his eyes briefly widened told her that she hadn't been far off with her assessment; she gave him another smile, then raised her gun again, his eyes going wide again – but before he could try to plead, she pulled the trigger, and a second later, he slumped down, life leaving his eyes while Michiru reloaded her gun, then holstered it.

"Alright", she then stated, glancing around, "where might he have hidden it?"

In response, Haruka moved to search him more thoroughly while the sniper started checking the room; and while Haruka came up empty-handed, Michiru found a loose wooden board at the wall, carefully pushing and prodding until it came off, revealing part of a safe hidden behind it.

"Found it", Michiru called out, prompting Haruka to move over and help her remove the remaining board, until the safe was fully in sight; and then, Michiru paused, realizing with dismay that, while she was highly skilled with guns, she knew next to nothing about cracking a safe she didn't know the combination of.

"Let me", Haruka smirked, moving past her and closer to the safe, "one gets quite good at cracking safes here, after scavenging for a while. There are more than you would think."

She pulled a small, thin metal rod from one of her many pockets, with a delicate hook at the end; curious, Michiru watched how she started working on the safe, wondering if Haruka could teach her how to do this when there was an audible click, the door swinging open moments later.

"Impressive", Michiru complimented, giving her best to ignore the happy grin Haruka gave her in response made her heart skip a beat; and then, she looked into the safe, and saw the rather unspectacular, cylindrical purple object sitting inside, her breath getting caught in her throat as she recognized it as what they had come here for.

"This is it", she breathed, not sure if she was talking to Haruka or to herself; she took a moment to make sure the inside of the safe wasn't trapped, then took careful hold of the piece, allowing an excited smile to curl her lips as she looked up at Haruka.

"This is the first piece of the key", she repeated, giving it another admiring look – until this very moment, she hadn't even been fully sure that this quest was leading anywhere, but now, as she held the first piece of the key in her hands, she suddenly knew that everything would work out just fine and that soon, they'd find the remaining pieces and the vault, and within it, all the treasure she could ever wish for.


	9. In the Midnight Hour

"This is it?" Minako wanted to know, sceptically eying the small object Michiru was holding up for her to see, "it looks so small. And unimportant."

"Well, it's just one of four parts", Haruka gave back, frowning at her lack of enthusiasm, "but hey, it's a start, we got the first one! And so quickly, too! This calls for a celebration!"

"You just want free drinks", Minako shot back at once, Michiru smiling slightly at how Haruka's face fell, a clear indicator that the younger blonde hadn't been far from the truth, "but you won't get those for one measly piece. Show me the whole key and you'll have free drinks all night."

"Fine", Haruka grumbled, "I'll pay, then. Gimme a beer. Michiru, you want one, too?"

"Just water", Michiru gave back at once, "I don't drink."

"Seven dollars", Minako announced as she put the bottle of beer and the bottle of water down onto counter; Haruka grumbled again, but paid, waving Michiru's protest about doing this for her drink as well aside with a careless gesture of one hand.

"Never mind that", she then declined verbally, as well, "you saved my butt when that Psycho attacked, so that is—"

"What", Minako interrupted her with a squawk, her eyes going wide, "you ran into a Psycho? Seriously? I didn't know good old Toesie had one of those."

"Well, he did", Michiru threw in, after a carefully small sip of her water, just to make sure that it was as fresh as it could be, "and he was quite adamant on stopping us. Thankfully though, he wasn't successful, even though he did manage to injure Haruka."

"So that's how you got that cut", Minako commented, eying said cut, the injury by now having been cleaned, "I thought you just were your usual clumsy self and ran into a door or something."

"I assure you that Haruka was far from clumsy", Michiru told her, frowning slightly, ready to defend her companion; then, she noticed the way Haruka was rolling her eyes, but smiled as she did so, and figured that this was some sort of joke between the two, momentarily feeling out of place and even a bit awkward, something she most definitely wasn't used to.

"Thank you, though", the taller woman either had picked up on this or just was grateful, smiling at her in a way that made her heart flutter – not that she allowed herself to acknowledge this for longer than a second, though -, "I only ran into a door once, years ago when I was drunk, but Minako's never gonna let me live that one down."

"At least not until you do something equally stupid", Minako smirked, making Michiru wonder if this way of talking to each other was normal in friendships as close as the one Haruka and Minako apparently shared; and she wondered what it said about her that she didn't know this, that never in her life, anyone had been close enough to her to deserve being called a friend.

"So", Minako distracted her from those ponderings, "you know where the other parts are? You gonna go look for them tomorrow?"

"We know about one", Michiru told her, glancing around, not comfortable giving out any more information than this with a bunch of patrons she didn't know in the bar, "and I suppose we will check this lead out tomorrow?"

At the last few words, she gave Haruka a questioning glance, smiling when immediately, the blonde nodded – before she took a long gulp of her beer bottle, then exclaimed that now, it was time to celebrate, her joy about the small step they were closer to their goal making Michiru's smile widen without the sniper even realizing it.

* * *

True to her words, Michiru stuck to water, while Haruka by now had made it to her fourth beer; the fact that she didn't appear drunk at all told the sniper that she wasn't exactly unused to alcohol, something which didn't surprise her though – on this dump of a plant, alcohol most likely was one of the few things which made life easier, and she was quite sure that she'd break her "no drinking" rule as well, if she'd be forced to live there for the rest of her days.

 _As long as she's not hung over tomorrow_ , she pondered to herself, taking another sip of her water, _one never knows how this doctor the old man mentioned might react to us showing up there._

"Hey!" Haruka's happy voice distracted her from the thoughts of her quest, the blonde sidling up to her, with a fresh bottle of water and a smile on her face, "saw your drink's almost empty, so I got you a new one. Unless you don't want it, but want to go home and sleep, then I can give it back."

"No need to", Michiru reassured her, taking the bottle from her after quickly emptying the one she had been holding, "thank you, I didn't notice you were paying such close attention to my drink."

"I'm surprised you didn't", Haruka smirked, earning a raised eyebrow from the sniper, which prompted her to elaborate, "because you seem to notice everything else going on around you. Should I be insulted that you didn't notice me keeping an eye on you and your drink?"

"No", Michiru replied after thinking about this for a moment, smiling up at her, just for a second allowing herself to forget about her resolution that anything which was more than their business relationship would have to wait, "in fact, you should feel honoured. When my talent was discovered—"

A loud yell from her right cut her off, followed by the sound of glass breaking as one patron smashed his bottle on the head of another; briefly, she frowned, then nodded towards the door, figuring that talking would be rather impossible a few seconds from now and thus asking Haruka to walk with her.

Glancing at the men who had started to fight, Haruka made sure that Minako would be able to handle them without her help; once she had recognized the troublemakers as patrons who often started fights, and whom Minako had handled on her own quite a few times already, she nodded, leaving the bar with Michiru moments later, the sounds of fighting following them until they had moved quite a bit away.

"As I was saying", Michiru started over, making Haruka smirk slightly at the hint of annoyance in her tone, "when my family discovered my talent for guns in general, and sniper rifles in particular, they made sure I'm trained accordingly. Well, my father did, my mother wasn't very fond of the idea. My father hired another sniper to train me, a former vault hunter, and one of the first things she taught me was that a sniper always is aware of their surroundings, and everyone around them."

"Okay", Haruka gave back, not quite sure why the fact that Michiru hadn't watched her meant that she should feel honoured then; picking up on her confusion, the smaller woman smiled, a smile which made Haruka's heart skip a beat, giving her an explanation moments later.

"I keep my eyes on strangers, and on people I don't trust", she let the blonde know, "so…"

"…so that you didn't keep them on me means you trust me?" Haruka finished for her, oddly touched, "um, thanks, I guess…? And, uh, not that this is a bad thing, but… that was kind of quick."

"It was", Michiru agreed, earning a smile from the taller woman with her next words, "but something does tell me that I can trust you. This happens rarely, but so far, my instincts were right every time."

"Well, if it helps", Haruka gave back, making the sniper's knees feel decidedly weaker when she stepped closer to her, until their bodies were almost touching, "I trust you, too. How could I not, after how well we've worked together so far?"

"Indeed", Michiru replied, mortified at the slightly breathless sound of her voice; deciding to blame how close Haruka was to her, she cleared her throat, torn between taking a step back and remaining right where she was… or perhaps even taking that final step which would bring her as close as it was possible to Haruka, the way the blonde now seemed focused on her lips telling her that, if she'd do this, Haruka would surely kiss her.

It frightened her how much she wanted this, after knowing her for not even half a week; she told herself again that she couldn't let this happen, that she didn't have time for this, but she didn't step back, a shiver running down her spine when she realized that, even if she wouldn't step closer, Haruka would do that for her any moment now.

 _No_ , she scolded herself, still not stepping back though, _you can't. You know you can't. Even if you forget about your quest for a moment, what can you offer her? A short-lived fling which will end once you completed the key, open the vault and go back home._

Surely, she told herself, Haruka knew this, as well; still the blonde looked as if she was working up the nerve to kiss her though, and Michiru knew that she wouldn't stop her… which was why she felt oddly grateful when she heard the sound of engines approach and noticed how Haruka stiffened, making it clear that this wasn't an everyday occurrence.

"What the…" the blonde now said, as if to underline this impression; and then, the sound grew impossibly loud, coming from all around them, lights appearing as the vehicles which had approached in the cover of darkness activated their headlights and let them realize that what could be called the town's main square had been surrounded.

"You know these guys?" Michiru murmured to Haruka while the noise brought more people out of the bar and their homes, the sniper not surprised to see that most of them were armed; then, Haruka nodded, distracting her from these observations, the taller woman keeping her voice low when she replied.

"Crimson Lance", she murmured, a name Michiru found rather uncreative, even though it explained why all the vehicles had been painted with just this colour, "private army of one of the corporations which used to mine here, Atlas, I think. Not sure why they are still here."

As if they had heard her, one of the riders stood up, the armoured man in the vehicle right next to theirs illuminating the tall figure, allowing them all to see that it was a woman in her late thirties, hair so blonde that it was almost white dangling down her back in a tight braid, the way her voice carried when she addressed the group which by now had formed telling Michiru that she was used to giving commands and to having them heard.

"Commander Steele, of the Crimson Lance", she was polite enough to introduce herself, even though her next words made the people around grumble and growl, "we know that a piece of the vault key is in this town! Hand it over now, and this can be resolved peacefully!"

 _Someone's going to tell her_ , Michiru suddenly was sure, her heart speeding up and her mouth going dry as she took in the number of soldiers Steele had brought along; she was good, but she knew she wasn't good enough to take all of them out before they'd realize what was happening and would start shooting back.

 _They have no reason to keep quiet_ , the treacherously frightened part of her brain went on, no matter how hard she tried to shut it up, _they'll tell her, and then she'll take the piece from you, and it will all have been for nothing…_

"We don't know nothin' about a key", a male voice called out, surprising her, an emotion she hid well though, not wanting to give herself away, "you came to the wrong town with your lil army!"

"I doubt it", Steele replied, her voice cold, "we know for a fact that a vault hunter is in your town."

Michiru had a second to hope that this was all they knew, and no further details; then, the commander made a short, sharp gesture with one hand, and within seconds, the sniper found herself in the spotlight as several vehicles trained their lights on her, illuminating Haruka and her perfectly against the night sky.

"Miss Kaioh", Steele smiled, a smile which was as hard and cold as her voice, "hand over the key, please, and no one will get hurt."

"Leave 'er alone!" another man called out, Michiru's surprise about this unexpected display of solidarity reaching new heights when she recognized him as the one she had humiliated shortly after her arrival in this town, "you mess with 'er, you mess with all of us!"

To Michiru's endless astonishment, these words apparently were taken as some sort of signal, all of the men and women who had amassed outside forming a protective cluster around Haruka and her; her hand fell to her gun as Steele's gaze darkened at the sight, and she had a moment to wonder if all these people, so willing to help someone who was a stranger to them would now pay with their lives once Steele would tell her soldiers to open fire… and then, the commander gave a sharp shake of her head, and the engines of their cars revved to life again, Steele levelling a baleful glare the sniper's way before she and her soldiers sped back into the night, leaving her to think that, while this confrontation had been won, all of this was far from over.


	10. Is There A Doctor In The House?

"We better keep an eye out for these Crimson Lance characters", Michiru commented early in the next morning, as Haruka and she got ready for their trip to the Arid Badlands; while she packed up a little tent, just big enough for the two of them, and her sleeping bag, Haruka nodded, sounding a bit dismayed when she replied.

"Indeed, we should", she agreed, finishing her preparations by clipping a canteen filled with fresh water to her belt, "I doubt they will just drop it now, they'll probably come after us again once we're not surrounded by people willing to help."

"I'm still surprised they did that", Michiru commented as she checked her weapons, "they don't know me at all, and the man who spoke up for me the loudest was the one whose cigarette I shot out of his mouth shortly after my arrival here."

"You impressed him", Haruka shrugged, "being good with weapons is one of the few things which quickly earns someone respect around here. Also, they know I work for you, and that I'll get my share of the vault's treasures, so they hope I'll be willing to share."

"Still, it was surprising", Michiru admitted, "to be honest, I was quite sure one of them would tell this Commander Steele."

"Nah", the blonde smirked, carefully putting her machine gun into its holster after making sure it was fully loaded, "they'd never rat anyone out to someone like Steele. That company she works for, they're responsible for a lot of people stranded here, with no way out."

The thought was enough to make Michiru shudder, the idea of having to spend her life on this dump of a planet, with no way to ever leave, making her stomach clench up; she didn't voice these thoughts though, knowing that, as long as they hadn't found the vault, Haruka was one of these people, stuck on Pandora without any other options, and the last thing she wanted was to offend her companion.

"Ready?" Haruka distracted her from those thoughts, making her nod as she slung her rifle onto her back; the taller woman gave her a brief smile, once again making her knees flutter, then led the way out of her small house and to the shed where she kept her car, Michiru holding back a sigh as she climbed the gunner's seat once more, silently hoping that they'd make it to their destination without incident.

* * *

The day was spent mostly in the car, with only a brief break for lunch and a few stops at small settlements to refill their water canteens; and as they stopped to make camp for the night, Michiru was more than grateful to get out of the gunner's seat, stretching excessively once she had climbed down to the ground, noticing the way Haruka eyed her as she did so.

"We made good progress today, didn't we?" she said, holding back a smile at the way the blonde's eyes followed her every move as she started removing her supplies for the night from the car, "do you think we'll make it to the Arid Badlands tomorrow?"

"Yeah", Haruka gave back after a few seconds, her belated reaction forcing Michiru to hold back yet another smirk, "unless we run into some ambush or something, we should make it there before noon."

Clearly in dire need to keep her hands busy, she quickly unpacked the tent and sleeping bags, then started putting the tent up while Michiru collected wood for a fire; they had decided to camp in a rather small space, but it was surrounded by rocks, and she hoped that there'd be enough stone to keep anyone from seeing the flickering flames, well aware of the fact that otherwise, their fire might be seen for miles, and most likely by people who wouldn't be exactly friendly.

"Should we keep watch?" Haruka wanted to know as she put up the tent, getting done rather quickly; glancing around, Michiru took in the empty landscape around them, made of nothing but rocks and withered bushes, then shook her head, smiling at the way the taller woman raised an eyebrow in response.

"I have a light sleep", she explained as she got done with building the fire, digging through her pockets until she found a small book of matches, using one of them to light the fire, "if anyone tries to sneak up on us, I'll wake up. Especially out here, on this empty, desolate plain."

"Okay", Haruka agreed after considering this for a moment, "I guess you know what you're talking about, and I trust you, so…"

This renewed declaration of trust made Michiru's smile widen, and the blonde smiled back at her; for a few moments, the two just stood there, smiling at each other, until Michiru snapped herself out of it and moved to the car again, rummaging through their supplies for food while Haruka finished preparations for the night by placing the sleeping bags in the tent, the thought of spending the whole night so close to the blonde making Michiru's heart beat faster, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

* * *

The first thing Michiru noticed when she woke up in the next morning was that the night had been peaceful, nobody disturbing their little camp; and then, a bit belatedly, she realized that during the night, Haruka and she had moved closer together, despite their sleeping bags, the blonde snuggled up to her back as she laid on her side, one arm loosely draped over her waist.

Lying perfectly still, Michiru tried to figure out how to get out of the sleeping back without waking Haruka and letting her notice the position they were in; she had to admit to herself that it felt good, the taller woman's body so close to hers, only the sleeping bags keeping them from touching, and the way her warm breath seemed to almost caress her neck each time she breathed out.

As slowly and carefully as possible, she finally started disentangling by carefully removing Haruka's arm from her waist, working hard to ignore the pang this gave her heart; then, she scooted away a bit, only sitting up once she had put a safe distance between Haruka and herself, letting out a carefully controlled breath as she ran both hands through her hair.

"Haruka", she then said, once she could be sure her voice wouldn't waver and betray her, reaching out and touching her shoulder, "time to get up."

Haruka let out a somewhat adorable grunt in reply, the way she forced her eyes open making Michiru smile, amusement in her voice when she added "Good morning", earning another grunt from the blonde.

"I'm not good at early mornings", she then grumbled, sitting up and stretching, "but it's a good thing you woke me, I suppose."

"If we want to reach this doctor before noon, then yes", Michiru smiled, earning a wry smirk; she took a moment to smile back, then moved out of the tent, Haruka following suit half a minute later.

They sat in content silence as they had a quick, but filling breakfast, consisting of the canned food Haruka had brought along; and to Michiru's relief, the blonde apparently had noticed nothing of their position during the night, the sniper figuring that, if she had, she surely would have mentioned it by now.

Again, she thought about how good it had felt as she ate, none of those thoughts and the emotions they caused showing on her face though; and again, she reminded herself that she couldn't do this, that she didn't have time for it and that it would be a terribly unfair thing to do to Haruka, both of them knowing that her time on this planet was limited.

Both of them finishing breakfast put an end to these thoughts, and she grimaced as she realized that, once had packed up their little camp, it'd be time for another ride in the gunner seat; Haruka, having noticed her expression and guessing correctly what it mean, chuckled slightly, smirking and shrugging at the eyebrow Michiru raised at her in response.

"I'd offer to take the seat", she then told the smaller woman while she began taking down the tent, "but, well, you don't know where we have to go, so…"

"I'll be fine", Michiru bravely replied, making Haruka smirk at her again; and this time, after a few moments, she smiled back, then moved to help her, giving her best to ignore the way her skin tingled whenever their hands accidentally touched, over and over reminding herself that she couldn't do this.

* * *

"Not far anymore now", Haruka called up to her two hours later, to her great relief; sitting up in the gunner seat was an adventure already on what passed for a normal street on this planet, an on the rough terrain the blonde was driving on, it was even worse, Michiru feeling as if her butt would never stop being sore again.

"Thank goodness", she thus called back, not hearing the blonde chuckle in response, but still being oddly sure that Haruka had done just that; she held back a dismayed sigh, then kept glancing around to make sure she wouldn't miss anyone pursuing them, feeling slightly better when she couldn't spot any other cars.

At least, she then thought, as Haruka drove up to a narrow path, leading into the mountains up ahead, her companion had been accurate when she had said it wasn't far anymore; the path was too narrow to let them drive any further, and even though she didn't know how far they might have to walk, she was glad to get out of the gunner seat, once more noticing how Haruka watched her closely when she stretched after climbing down to the ground.

"I know next to nothing about this doctor", the blonde told her as they started walking, Michiru keeping her hand close to her gun, just in case, well aware of the aggressive wildlife on Pandora by now, "only that she has a lab up there, and that she used to work for Dahl, the mining company."

"Let's hope she won't be hostile", Michiru gave back, glad that she was in good shape as the path led up and up, becoming quite a bit steeper the farther they walked, "and that she'll hand over her part of the key without much of a fuss. Do you know if she's been actively looking for the other ones?"

"Not as far as I know", Haruka told her, "I'm not quite sure what she is doing with the part she has. Probably studies it, she is a doctor after—"

The sound of gunshots interrupted her, and she fell silent, looking stunned for a few seconds – before she exchanged one glance with Michiru and both of them started to run, rushing up the path, until it led them to a plateau, the lab Haruka had mentioned before right in the middle of it, and a bunch of soldiers in crimson armour fanned out in front of it, aiming at the door and windows, for the moment though not firing again.

"Them", Michiru stated in a low voice, her eyes narrowing; Haruka nodded, a gesture she repeated when the sniper pointed to the left, the two of them splitting up moments later, finding cover behind rocks large enough before they both started firing.

Her sniper rifle wasn't much use to her, not with the soldiers standing relatively close; thus, Michiru relied on her revolver, but she was as good with that as she was with the rifle, and quickly, she found her focus, nothing in the world mattering anymore as she took aim and fired, fully in what her mentor had called "the zone", anticipating the return fire moments before it came and always taking cover in time.

She heard other shots, as well, from a machine gun, then the blast of a shotgun; thanks to their failure about keeping the path guarded, the soldiers now were trapped between whoever was shooting from the lab and Michiru and Haruka, and it didn't take long until one of the sniper's bullets took down the last one standing, silence and the smell of gunpowder filling the air, the sudden lack of weapons being fired tearing Michiru out of the near trance she had been in.

She smiled as she holstered her gun again, glancing briefly at the lab to make sure that the person who had supported them wouldn't try to shoot her now; and then, as she turned to look at Haruka, the smile vanished within a second, her eyes briefly widening and her heart suddenly hammering up to her throat.

A few feet away, halfway behind the rock she had been using for cover, Haruka laid flat on her back, her machine gun having fallen from her hands; her eyes were closed, but all these details registered belatedly on Michiru's mind as she couldn't take her eyes of the blood, all the blood, so much that she couldn't even tell where it was coming from.

"Haruka", she brought out in a weak, breathless voice; somewhere to her right, a door opened and someone called out to her, but she didn't even register it fully, completely focused on Haruka as she finally managed to snap out of her reverie and ran to her, all possible danger forgotten, her companion, this woman who meant so much to her already, so much more than she had been willing to admit to herself, and the tiny hope that she wasn't fatally wounded or even already dead the only thing she could focus on.


	11. The Power Within

_It's not as bad as it looks. It's not as bad as it looks. It's not as bad as it looks._ Michiru repeated these words over and over, like a mantra, as she pressed one hand down onto the bullet wound; she knew that it was futile, that it wouldn't help stop the bleeding – from the large puddle which had formed beneath Haruka, she could tell that the bullet had gone all the way through, and most of the blood was spilling from the exit wound, still hidden from sight thanks to the blonde's position on the ground.

This was bad, she knew, but at least, she told herself, the bullet hadn't hit close to any vital organs; it had gone in right beneath her collarbone, and Michiru figured that it was the pain and shock which had knocked her out, never having been shot herself, but having seen the effects of bullet wounds often enough to know them well.

Hurried footsteps approached her from behind, and she whipped around, her gun in her free hand the blink of an eye later, her other hand still on the wound, despite how futile this was, the weapon in her hand and the cold look in her eyes prompting the woman who had been approaching her to come to an almost screeching halt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa", she stated, holding up her hands to show she was unarmed, "take it easy, we wanna help!"

While she spoke, Michiru took in as many details about her as she could, not even her upset state enough to stop her trained gaze; the woman was tall, almost as tall as Haruka, a bit more on the muscular side than the lean blonde, brown hair tied back in a ponytail, the hands she held up calloused, telling her that she was used to holding a gun and to physical labour.

"You helped us against these soldiers, now let us help you", the brunette went on, slowly lowering her hands when Michiru relaxed visibly, even though she didn't lower the gun yet, "my friend, she's the doctor you came here for, right? She can help…"

"She's a scientist, as far as I know", Michiru replied, lowered her gun though, fighting the urge to glance at Haruka, not wanting to leave the other woman out of her sight, "not a physician. Will she know what she's doing?"

"Yes", the brunette replied at once, daring to take another step closer, "she's stitched me up a dozen times. So, let's get your friend inside, okay?"

She waited until Michiru had given a terse nod, then turned to the lab and called out, the sudden unexpected loudness of her voice making Michiru flinch.

"Ami", the brunette was yelling, "it's okay, you can come out, bring the stretcher!"

For a few seconds, nothing happened, giving Michiru time to focus on the unpleasant sensation of Haruka's blood on her skin; it still was trickling from the wound, hot and sticky against her palm, and for the first time in her life, the sight and feeling and smell made her stomach turn.

Then, the door of the lab opened, and a somewhat petite woman came hurrying outside, carrying a folded up stretcher; she was smaller than the brunette, and much less muscular, almost as lean as Haruka, her blue hair cut short, a white lab coat fluttering as she rushed to where the blonde laid lifelessly.

"Get her on the stretcher, quick", she ordered in a brisk voice as she put said stretcher down next to Haruka, "she's losing too much blood. But be careful."

Nodding, the brunette moved to take careful, but still firm hold of Haruka's legs; Michiru grasped her beneath the armpits, and after a quick count to three from the taller woman, they lifted her up and put her down onto the stretcher, fully revealing the puddle of blood she had been lying in, the sight being enough to make Michiru nauseous yet again.

Forcing the feeling down, she picked up one end of the stretcher, the brunette taking the other; with the doctor taking the lead, they hurried into the lab, the doctor directing them to a stainless steel table in the centre of the room, Michiru's heart hammering up to her throat by the time they had lowered her companion onto it, and not just from the exertion of carrying the stretcher.

"Don't worry", the brunette told her, placing a hand on her shoulder, only to pull back when Michiru tensed immediately and glared at her, speaking on after a brief startled pause, "Ami knows what she is doing, your friend's gonna be okay… Do you want something to drink? Or to eat?"

"Makoto makes great skag steak", the doctor, Ami, Michiru figured, threw in, sounding somewhat absent-mindedly as she was focused on examining Haruka; the mere thought of eating made Michiru's stomach turn again, and she shook her head, not trusting herself to speak, fearing that she might throw up the moment she'd open her mouth.

"Get her some water", Ami told her companion, either not having seen Michiru's negative response or ignoring it, "and then please both be quiet, this is going to be delicate work."

Reaching out, Makoto almost took hold of the sniper's arm, then remembered her previous reaction to being touched and stopped herself in the last second; instead, she gave the smaller woman an almost pleading look, and after a moment, Michiru nodded, following her when she led her out of the lab's main area and into a smaller adjoining room.

There, she moved to the small fridge standing in one corner, while Michiru took the chance given to look around; she spotted nothing out of the ordinary, a bunch of tools she knew nothing about and a few vials filled with purple, thick liquid, but nothing which told her what exactly the doctor was researching out here, in the middle of nowhere.

"Stay away from the purple stuff", Makoto advised as she turned away from the fridge with two water bottles in hand and noticed her studying the vials, "Ami says it's highly poisonous."

"You're not a doctor, then?" Michiru gave back, accepting the bottle of water when Makoto held it out to her, telling herself that she might as well find out more about the two of them while Ami was taking care of Haruka, her words prompting Makoto to shake her head.

"No, not even an official assistant", she then let the sniper know, taking a sip of her water before she went on, "just… helping out where I can, and protecting her the best I can. Not that it did much good against those Crimson Lance goons, thanks for your help with those."

"I've had the pleasure to run into them before", Michiru replied, at the same instant deciding that this would be all she'd reveal, "and they weren't exactly friendly."

"They wanted her piece of the key", Makoto told her, giving information rather freely, and immediately making Michiru ask herself if she had some sort of hidden agenda, and only tried to gain her trust by not withholding this, "but she was not willing to give it to them. Is that what they wanted from you, too?"

Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how to answer this without giving anything away; before she could come up with something though, Ami sharply called "Makoto!" from the other room, the brunette putting her water down at once and hurrying to the adjoining room, Michiru following her after a moment of hesitation.

"I need you to help me", Ami told her companion in a brisk voice, "you need to keep her in a stable position on her side, she's still losing too much blood…"

Makoto said something in reply as she moved to the table, but Michiru all at once found it hard to focus on their exchange and on what they were doing; from one heartbeat to the next she felt oddly light-headed, clutching her water bottle as if to ground herself as she wondered if she was about to faint.

Neither Makoto, nor Ami noticed that something was amiss, both of them fully focused on Haruka now; had she been anyone else, or had it been anyone else on that table, Michiru might have called out to them, but as it was, she remained quiet, trying to control her breathing with the small hope that this would help her get rid of the strange feeling.

She took another breath, belatedly realizing that she had started moving, towards one of the tables; she was quite startled to find that she was walking, her feet moving on seemingly their own volition, giving her time to wonder if she was having some sort of mental breakdown now.

Then, she saw the object which laid on the table, and her heart skipped a beat; it was a perfectly matching part for the piece of the key she already had, and while the notion that somehow, it was calling out to her seemed quite absurd, she couldn't help herself, but just had to take out her own piece, neither Ami, nor Makoto noticing what she was doing as she stopped at the table, looking down on the piece, its dark purple reflected deep in her eyes.

Again she belatedly realized that she was moving as she dug her piece of the key out of her pocket; it almost seemed to vibrate in her hand, as if eager to be joining its counterpart again, and she suddenly felt the need to make this happen, too strong to let it be ignored.

"What…", she heard Ami behind her, but didn't stop; the doctor sounded alarmed when she cried out to her, demanded to know what she was doing, but again Michiru ignored her, not even noticing that she was holding her breath as she picked up the doctor's piece and moved it closer to her own.

She didn't even need to put them together on her own, she observed, both pieces vibrating in her hands now, then almost jumping forward, joining each other with a flash of bright purple light; behind her, Ami froze in mid-step as the same light revealed faint, lightly blue markings on her skin, running from her right wrist up her arm to her shoulder, spreading to her chest and throat from there.

"Holy crap!" Makoto called out somewhere behind the doctor, neither of them reacting to her though; instead, Michiru pocketed which now was half of the key, then turned and walked past the stunned Ami, to the table Haruka laid on, blue lights dancing and flickering in her eyes as she stopped next to it and looked down at the blonde.

In breathless silence, Ami and Makoto watched how she raised her right hand, the complicated looking symbols on her skin glowing brighter for a few seconds; then, she lowered her hand, onto the shockingly large exit wound, the glow brightening even further while her eyes narrowed.

Makoto looked as if she wanted to say something, but a sharp gesture from Ami stopped her; neither of them could look away when the glow seemed to flow down her arm and into her fingers, then, as if it was brimming over, began covering the wound, Ami's eyes going wide when seconds later, the flesh started to knit back together.

She had seen her share of accelerated healing, during her time at Dahl, and during the experiments the company had performed in their labs; it all had come at a price, but nothing of it had been like this, so quick and apparently painless, Haruka displaying none of the spasms Ami had seen on tests of unconscious subjects, but simply lying there, not moving a muscle while the glow kept flowing and healing the wound.

It didn't even take thirty seconds for the injury to be gone completely, as if it had never been there, the only indicators that it had been being the holes in Haruka's shirt and vest and the blood staining her clothes; the glow began to lessen, then vanished, prompting Michiru to let her hand drop back to her side – before her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed, Makoto leaping forward and catching her at the last second.

"What the Hell was that", she demanded while she carefully lowered the sniper to the ground, noticing how the symbols on her skin faded into nothingness, "have you ever seen something like that before?!"

"No", Ami replied, unable to take her eyes of Michiru, and thus not even noticing how Haruka opened her eyes, looking confused, but perfectly aware, "but I've heard of this… of women like her… before. She's a Siren."


	12. Now and Always

Author's Note: Apparently this site got hungry and ate a few of my words, how rude, so I had to re-upload this chapter. Thanks to Hoshirabu for catching it and pointig it out, I totally missed it ^^;

Makoto and Ami just had a few seconds to be stunned, moments during which Haruka at first realized that the bullet wound which had taken her down during the fight against the Crimson Lance was gone – followed by the realization that Michiru laid lifeless on the floor, two strangers standing next to her, the fact that one of them was wearing a lab coat and thus probably was the doctor they had come here for in the first place not registering for the blonde as concern pushed all other emotions aside.

"Get away from her!" she snapped with more bravery than she felt when she saw the taller of the two bend over her companion; her weapon was nowhere in sight, and the tall one looked as if she could break her in two like a twig, but still the thought of these strangers harming Michiru was more than she could bear, both women flinching at the unexpected and sharp sound of her voice.

"It's okay", the taller one then said, straightening up again and raising both hands to show she was unarmed and meant no harm, "jeez, you two are protective of each other."

Not quite sure what to reply to this, Haruka just held her gaze for a few moments, trying to figure out if she just tried to lull her into a false sense of security before she would attack – only to remember that Michiru was out cold on the floor, tensing up again as she gestured at the sniper, demanding to know what had happened.

"Apparently, your friend is a Siren", Ami was the one to answer that, smiling slightly at the gobsmacked look Haruka gave her in reply, "she healed your wound and then passed out. I imagine she wasn't aware of it until five minutes ago. I'm Dr Ami Mizuno, by the way, you came here to see me, so you need not worry, we won't try to harm or rob you."

"If what you're telling me is true", the blonde argued back, torn between the need to glance around for something she could use as a weapon, just in case the tall one would try to attack her, and the dismay she felt about leaving her out of her sight for even a second; then, Michiru let out a low groan, her eyelids fluttering, and all possible danger was forgotten as Haruka practically jumped off the weird table she had woken up on and rushed to her sight.

"Michiru", she said as she knelt down next to her, part of her realizing that, if the two wanted to attack her, they now had the perfect chance, with her back turned and her focus on the sniper; still she couldn't bring herself to look away though, grasping Michiru's hand when the smaller woman let out another groan in response to her voice.

"Come on", she urged her own, squeezing her hand tenderly, her heart jumping when she felt Michiru's fingers tighten around hers in response, "wake up, please? Come on, open your eyes…"

She squeezed Michiru's hand again, and to her relief, this, in combination with her voice, was enough to bring the sniper back fully; her eyes opened, appearing dazed for a moment, then met hers, clarity returning to her gaze the blink of an eye later.

"Haruka", she stated, sounding alarmed, surprising the blonde with how quickly she had gone from dazed to fully aware, "why are you up, you…"

She trailed off as the memories came back, of the strange and somewhat frightening power she had felt when she had joined the two pieces of the vault key, of the elation it had given her when she had placed her hand over the wound and had healed it, and she sat up hurriedly, ignoring how it momentarily made her dizzy, disbelief all over her face as she pulled her hand from Haruka's grasp and looked at it, frowning when it looked perfectly ordinary, the blue symbols she was sure she had seen gone.

"Makoto", Ami spoke up behind her, making the brunette look at her, "go get some water, and one of the chocolate bars. She might need some sugar."

"I'm fine", Michiru told her, eager to demonstrate this by coming to her feet, only for her own body to betray her, her knees trembling for a dreadful second before they gave in beneath her; she hadn't been aware of it when Makoto had caught her the previous time she had gone down, but this time, she was conscious enough to realize what was happening when Haruka shot forward this time and caught her, the feeling of the blonde's arms around her not helping with making the tremble of her legs stop.

"Water and chocolate, check", was all Makoto had to say to this, and when she hurried off right afterwards, Michiru didn't try to protest, instead letting it happen that Haruka lowered her into a sitting position again, feeling a pang of regret when the taller woman let go of her again afterwards.

"I imagine you wonder what exactly happened to you", Ami stated while she brought a chair over, the sniper thankful that at least this time, she didn't end up falling again when she climbed into it, feeling absurdly exhausted once she sat comfortably, "I don't know much about Sirens, but what I do know is that not all of them are aware of what they are until later in life."

"I wasn't aware of it, no", Michiru had to admit, not quite sure what to think about this; moving closer to her, Haruka placed one hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, earning a brief grateful look from the sniper, both of them thus missing the way Makoto briefly raised an eyebrow as she joined them again, her facial expression perfectly neutral again when she handed the water bottle and a wrapped up chocolate bar to the smaller woman.

"As far as I know, only six Sirens can exist in the universe at any given time", Ami explained, not telling Michiru anything new – just like the doctor, she didn't know much, but she was quite aware of this fact, "which is why not all Sirens might have their powers from birth. Perhaps, somewhere else, one of them perished and the vault key subsequently woke your hidden powers. The key is said to be capable of more than opening the vault."

Even though she still wasn't sure what to think of this, Michiru had to admit to herself that this made sense; and all at once, she found herself wondering how much of these strange powers had been there from the very beginning, thinking of how easily she had mastered rifle and pistol, and how she always seemed capable of knowing when people would fire back at her, something she had thought to be intuition or instinct so far, only realizing now that she never had met anyone else who had been able to do this.

"I think I need some fresh air", she murmured, somewhat distractedly pushing the chocolate and the water into Haruka's hands, not even noticing the look of surprise on her companion's face when she got up from the chair; at least this time, her legs did her the favour of carrying her, and she hurried outside without looking back, Haruka looking down on the water and chocolate in her hands as if wondering how they had gotten there while the lab door slid close behind the sniper.

"…go after her", Makoto advised the blonde after a few seconds had ticked by in silence, prompting Haruka to look at her in surprise, the brunette giving a brief shrug before she added an explanation for her advice.

"While you were out cold, I tried to cheer her up", she let the blonde know, "and touched her shoulder, and the look she gave me? I was surprised I didn't burst into flames right on the spot. When you touched her though… Well, you saw how she reacted. And she just learned something which probably put her whole self-perception upside down. She needs a friend right now."

Even though Haruka wasn't quite as sure of this as the brunette, she nodded after a moment, figuring that it couldn't hurt to check on Michiru; she took a second to put the chocolate and the water on the nearest flat surface, then followed the sniper outside, her mind racing as she already tried to figure out how to make the smaller woman feel better.

* * *

At least, she thought to herself as she stepped outside, Michiru hadn't moved far away; she was sitting on a rock a few paces away from the lab, with her back to Haruka, not even turning around when she approached her, and speaking up the second the blonde was within hearing distance.

"I can tell it's you from your footsteps, Haruka", she let the taller woman know, not turning around, but glancing at her when she moved to sit next to her, "half an hour ago, I would have thought this is something I learned through all my training. Now I'm not so sure anymore."

"Does it matter?" Haruka wanted to know in surprise, smiling slightly when Michiru looked at her again, "maybe it's your training. Maybe it's the Siren thing. Either way, it'll help you to find the other two vault key pieces, and the vault."

"And it makes me even more of a target than I am already", Michiru pointed out, "apparently, being a vault hunter isn't dangerous enough, no, I also have to be a Siren. One of six in the whole universe. Are you aware of how many companies and scientists with questionable intent are willing to treat Sirens as less than human so they can experiment on them?"

"I know", Haruka gave back, earning a sigh from the sniper, but not letting this deter her, "but they won't get their hands on you. I won't let them. You healed me, maybe you saved my life, I owe you. They want to come after you, they have to get past me first."

"I might have to up your pay", Michiru dryly replied, "because while I do not think that Ami and Makoto will blab about this to anyone, word about this might get out sooner or later. Perhaps if I use these powers in front of someone who lives to tell the tale, or in case I lose control. And if that happens… Haruka, I don't have the slightest idea what I can do. I might put you in danger…"

"Nah", Haruka told her at once, her conviction about this prompting Michiru to raise an eyebrow, "you'd never hurt me. I know that."

It was the first time that someone displayed such trust in her, and it made her swallow heavily; not sure what she could reply to this, all she could do was hold Haruka's gaze, her heart jumping up to her throat with excitement and a bit of alarm when, after a few moments of just looking back at her, the blonde's gaze dropped to her lips yet again, reminding her of how close they had been to kissing back in Fyrestone, before Commander Steele had interrupted them so rudely.

"No", she said out loud before she even realized that she was about to talk, hurriedly getting up, when it looked as if Haruka wanted to lean closer to her, "I… Haruka, I can't. It wouldn't be fair to you, you know I'm not here to stay, and I can't even tell you how long I will be here..."

"I don't know if you noticed", Haruka shot back, coming to her feet as well, Michiru suddenly finding it hard to tell if she was angry or just resolved to not let anything come between them anymore, "but Pandora is a dangerous place. We could be dead tomorrow, and I am not going to my grave regretting I never did this."

With those words, she closed the distance between them with one long step, one arm snaking around Michiru's waist before she could try to move away; and then, she pressed her lips to Michiru's, once more making her feel decidedly weak in the knees while the always alert part of her mind took note of how surprisingly soft the taller woman's lips were.

For a second, she told herself that she shouldn't let this happen, that she had to break this kiss before it went any further, made her feel even deeper for the blonde; she told herself that this wasn't fair to Haruka, and that any relationship other than friends might endanger their mission, might distract her in a critical moment… before she kissed Haruka back, simultaneously wrapping both arms around her, not even trying to hold back a content sigh when their kiss deepened, a pleasant shudder running down her spine when the blonde's other hand ran up her back to entangle in her hair.

The kiss went on and on, until Michiru felt decidedly light-headed; and thus, she pulled back at last, regretfully, her arms still around the taller woman, and Haruka still holding her, as well, so close that she could feel how excitedly the blonde's heart was hammering in her chest.

"Perhaps this is a mistake", she murmured, hurriedly speaking on when Haruka's face fell, the happy smile she had displayed gone within the blink of an eye, "but one I will make gladly. Just promise you won't abandon me in the middle of nowhere in case things don't… turn out well."

"I have your back", Haruka reassured her in reply, sounding even lower and huskier than usual, and sending shivers up and down her spine again, "no matter what. Now and always."

This seemed like quite the commitment to Michiru, after just one kiss; instead of pondering this though, she allowed herself to simply let it warm her heart, giving Haruka another smile before she was the one to initiate their next kiss, her worries about her newfound strange powers for the moment forgotten.


	13. Burn to my Touch

Neither Ami, nor Makoto made a comment when Haruka and Michiru returned to the lab shortly after Haruka had gone after Michiru; Makoto had a knowing smirk on her face though, the look she gave Haruka being enough to make the blonde blush slightly, her reaction only causing Makoto's smirk to widen.

"Well", Ami was the one to speak up first, making both Haruka and Michiru glance at her, "I imagine you'll want to be on your way again soon, now that you got what you came here for."

She smiled slightly as she held the half of the key they had assembled out to the two; momentarily, Michiru wasn't sure if she should really touch it, mindful of what had happened the last time she had done so, then told herself that she could handle this, and that she would have to touch the key sooner or later, holding her breath as she reached out and took the half from the doctor.

To her relief, nothing strange happened this time, no symbols appearing on her skin and no weird powers manifesting themselves; she pocketed the half key, then looked at Haruka, realizing that now, they didn't know where to go next.

"Should we head back to Fyrestone?" she thus suggested, "and plan our next steps?"

"I might be able to help", Ami threw in before the blonde had a chance to reply, "my research about the vault and the key is on hold at the moment, but you are more than welcome to take a look at the results I could collect."

"I imagine you will want something in return, though", Michiru gave back, raising an eyebrow, not surprised when Ami smiled and nodded in response.

"I want access to the vault", she told the sniper, "not for the treasure, but for scientific research. So if you'll agree to let me work there once you got all you need from it…"

"Deal", Michiru replied at once, making Ami smile slightly; the doctor held out her hand, and Michiru shook it at once, not caring if she had made a bad deal now – she knew that exclusive access to the vault was worth more to a scientist than all the treasure it might hold would be, but was more than willing to give this to the doctor, simply for how ready she had been to help when Haruka had been hurt.

"You're welcome to spend the night here", the doctor said after they had sealed the deal, "and go through my research. We have a spare room you can use, and if what I found out is correct, you'll reach your next destination faster from here than from Fyrestone."

"Thank you", Michiru decided to accept the hospitality, "that is very kind of you. Of course we'll reimburse you for the space and for whatever food and drink we will consume."

"Nonsense", the doctor shot back at once, Makoto nodding her agreement, "our deal is more than sufficient to cover one night of food and sleep. Not to mention that you helped us fight off the Crimson Lance."

"…thanks", Michiru decided to accept this after a moment; Ami just smiled at her, then let her know that she'd go get her files and headed off, while Haruka commented that she'd get their stuff, then, earning a nod from the sniper, and a brief smile as Michiru reached out to touch her hand, just for a moment, but long enough to let the doctor and her assistant notice.

"I hope you like skag steak", Makoto commented once the door had shut behind Haruka, smirking when Michiru gave her a flat look as an answer, "but don't worry, we got enough beer and wine to wash down the taste, in case you don't."

"I don't drink", Michiru gave back, making Makoto raise an eyebrow in surprise, and giving her cause to wonder if living on this planet could only be handled with the help of alcohol, "but I'm sure it will be fine. I might be from a wealthy family, or at least they were wealthy in the past, but I've been vault hunting for a while, I've eaten quite a few vile things in that time, and Ami did say that you make a great steak."

"I do", Makoto replied at once, "not to brag, but it'll be the best you've ever had."

The sniper just smiled in response, then automatically turned towards the door as it opened, her smile widening when it turned out to be Haruka, the blonde carrying their supplies, nodding when Makoto asked her if she should them to the guest room.

"I guess Ami will bring you the files, then you'll have some privacy until dinner", she let them know as they arrived there; the room was small, simply furnished with two beds and a desk with two chairs, "feel free to use the bathroom, if you want to freshen up before dinner, it's just down the hall, third door on the right."

"Thanks", Michiru gave back, earning a brief smile from the taller woman before she left them alone; and while she was still shutting the door, Michiru already moved to one of the beds and sat down on it, the excitement of the day all at once taking a toll on her and making her feel quite tired and drained.

"That was quite the day, wasn't it", she said out loud, simultaneously patting the spot next to her, prompting Haruka to move over and sit down next to her, "all this excitement."

"Indeed", Haruka agreed, then made her smile once more by placing one hand on her upper thigh, letting it rest there, the warmth Michiru could feel through her pants sending pleasant shivers up and down her spine, "it's not every day I get shot and then healed by a Siren… and then get to make out with that Siren, too."

"I should hope you only make out with one certain Siren", Michiru primly gave back, smiling again though when Haruka chuckled lowly in reply, then nodded, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she leaned closer to her, until Michiru could feel her warm breath on her cheeks.

"I do", the blonde let her know, in a low voice which made her heart skip a beat, "but not nearly enough."

Michiru had a moment to smile knowingly at her, then Haruka was kissing her again; and this time, she responded immediately, not wasting a second on doubts and worries, but simply enjoying how good this felt, knowing she had made the right choice when Haruka pulled her close yet again, no matter how it would turn out.

* * *

After a surprisingly tasty dinner, Michiru had taken the first good look at the research material Ami had given her; she'd been reading for the past hour, surprised by how voluminous the file was, especially after Ami had pointed out that it had been more of a hobby than paid work and was far from finished.

While she had been busy with that, Haruka had taken care of her weapons, cleaning and reloading them; then, she had kept busy with mending the holes the bullet of the Crimson Lance had torn into her clothes, making Michiru wonder how much sense this made, considering the bloodstains on both the shirt and the vest, but apparently, Haruka didn't let this deter her, entertaining her with how she softly hummed under her breath as she worked.

For a while, the blonde's humming and the sound of Michiru turning pages were the only noises in the room; then, Michiru put the file aside at last and stretched, rubbing her stiff neck, not used anymore to bending over papers for such a span of time.

"If what Ami found out is correct", she then said, after clearing her throat to gain Haruka's attention, "the third piece is at some place called Trash Coast. You ever been there?"

"No", the blonde declined, putting her sewing aside and standing up, moving to stand behind the sniper; unabashedly, Michiru eyed her as she did so, quite much liking the sight of her in her dark leather pants and the white undershirt she'd been wearing beneath the shirt and vest, taking a good look at her bare arms before she was behind her and thus out of sight.

"I've heard of it though", she went on, simultaneously making Michiru sigh contentedly by beginning to massage her shoulders, clearly having noticed how tense she was after all the reading, "not a nice place."

"Are there any nice places on this planet?" Michiru dryly gave back, only to sigh again when one of Haruka's hands slid up to her neck, found the tensest spot there with surprising accuracy and began working on it, amusement in the taller woman's voice when she replied.

"A few", she let Michiru know, "perhaps, I can show them to you some day. Right now, I'm liking this room pretty much, too. I think that's the company, though."

"How kind of you", the sniper replied, smiling, only to shudder again seconds later as Haruka's fingers found another especially tense spot, "and you're really good at this…"

"Glad to hear", Haruka murmured, now not just amusement in her tone, but something else, new… something Michiru identified quite fast as her touch changed, from the massage to a tender caress, her fingertips running over her neck, then down her back, tracing her spine through the fabric of her shirt, goose bumps forming on her arms in response.

"I think", she started, then heard the tremble in her voice, falling silent and swallowing heavily before she tried again, glad that she sounded a bit more steady, "I think I've worked enough for today. Perhaps we should get some rest…?"

"Yeah", Haruka agreed hoarsely, "rest." In response, Michiru snapped the file shut, then got up from her seat, turning to face the taller blonde; she took another moment to admire her lean build, then reached out and hooked one finger into the collar of her shirt, pulling her closer with ease, their lips meeting seconds later, a tender kiss at first, quickly growing much more passionate.

Clearly having the same ideas about "resting", Haruka let one hand glide down her back, until it cupped her behinds, the other moving to her front and skilfully undoing the buttons of her shirt, until it fell open, revealing her upper body to the blonde's gaze when she pulled back from the kiss.

"You're so beautiful", she murmured, the honest admiration in her tone and eyes making Michiru's heart speed up; not trusting herself to speak, knowing her voice would tremble again, she responded by pulling her closer again for yet another kiss, directing her the few steps to the bed afterwards, pushing her down onto the mattress, a hungry glint in her eyes as she straddled her, suddenly aching for her touch, her need so big that it almost hurt her physically.

"I want you", she verbalized this need, as well; the only response she got was that Haruka pulled her down for another kiss, the world around them soon forgotten as all they focused on was each other.


	14. The Morning After

The water splashes as she runs, pleasantly warm; she's almost dismayed that it only reaches up to her knees, that she can't stop and bath in it, but she has the feeling that she has to keep going. And so, she runs, through the seemingly endless water; she's alone, and she has the feeling that this is wrong, that someone should be with her… and just when that thought hits her, all around her, the water begins to freeze.

She tries to avoid getting stuck, tries to step on the ice before it can form around her legs; it breaks beneath her feet, and then it closes around her, trapping her in place, uncharacteristic fear surging through her when she looks around and finds herself in an endless plane of ice, a cold wind coming up and making her shiver.

 _What you faced so far was nothing._ The voice comes up out of nowhere, and seems to be all around her, echoing from God knows where; she nearly cries out, then glances around, eager to spot whoever is speaking, dismayed that the ice keeps her from turning around.

 _More danger awaits_ , the voice tells her, not reacting the slightest to her tries to find whoever it belongs to, _but you must not let it deter you. Keep looking for the key, for the vault… and DON'T GO ALONE!_

The volume shoots up to almost unbearable levels at the last few words, and then it keeps yelling at her not to go alone, impossibly growing louder and louder, until she has to cover her ears, until she screams in pain, screams she can't hear as the screaming goes on and on and on…

Michiru didn't cry out as she opened her eyes, the only sign for the nightmare she had suffered through being the sweat on her brow and her slightly quickened breath; and thanks to her self-control even so shortly after waking up, Haruka noticed nothing of her nightly terrors, the blonde still slumbering deeply right behind her, snuggled up against her back, the warmth of her naked body helping the sniper to calm down further.

She closed her eyes, taking in a few deep breaths, until her racing heart started calming down; focusing on the world around her, she told herself that this was real, that it had been a bad dream and nothing else, nothing to worry about.

Despite how often she told herself, she couldn't stop thinking of the voice, and how it had yelled at her that she shouldn't go alone; she wasn't planning to go anywhere on this planet alone, but she knew that Pandora was a dangerous place, and that her plans might be thwarted in the blink of an eye.

 _If your powers hadn't manifested_ , Haruka might be dead now, she remembered, shuddering at the thought; carefully, not wanting to wake her, she turned in her loose embrace and looked at her, studying the spot where a bullet wound had been mere hours ago, and perfectly fine skin was now, not even a scar left.

Unable to withstand the sudden urge she had to touch the blonde, she reached out, tenderly running her fingertips over the skin beneath the blonde's collar bone; this gentle touch apparently was enough to wake Haruka up, the taller woman letting out a low grunt before she opened her eyes, blinking sleepily a few times – before her gaze met Michiru's and she immediately smiled, the sniper smiling back at once.

"Hey", Haruka murmured, reaching up and grasping her hand, "slept well?"

For a second, Michiru was tempted to lie, to simply tell her that she had slumbered through the night like a stone; then, she decided that she wanted to be honest with Haruka, and shrugged instead, keeping her voice low as she replied, not sure if Ami and Makoto had woken up yet and not wanting to wake them in case they still were fast asleep.

"Mostly", she let the taller woman know, making her frown slightly, "I had… quite the strange dream. Perhaps nightmare is the better word for it…"

She recounted what her dream had contained, telling Haruka about the at first pleasantly warm water which then had turned to ice, and about the voice which had screamed at her to not go alone; Haruka listened intently, frowning the whole time, looking quite worried by the time Michiru was done.

"Huh", she let out, the look of concern on her face making Michiru worry, too, even though she so far never had been one to believe much in the truth of dreams, "perhaps it was just a dream, but that was oddly specific, don't you think? And, I mean, I don't know much about Sirens, but maybe your powers include prophetic dreams or something? Maybe we shouldn't just ignore it…"

"Well", Michiru gave back after thinking about this for a moment, having to admit that she hadn't thought of this possibility now, "I'm not planning to go anywhere alone on this planet. So, unless you decide that all of this is too dangerous…"

"I told you", Haruka gave back, moving one hand to tenderly rub her shoulder and upper arm, the touch sending shivers up and down her spine, "I've got your back. I'm going where you're going."

"Good to know", the sniper smiled, then leaned in for a good morning kiss; it was a mere innocent, brief touching of their lips, but it made her heart flutter, and she asked herself again if this was a mistake, if she was feeling too strongly for the blonde already, and if these feelings might end up endangering her quest sooner or later.

Then, she thought of the dream again, and of what Haruka had said; and she forced her concerns aside, smiling and nodding when the taller woman asked if she was ready to get up.

"I wonder if our hosts are up already", she commented as she got out of bed, smiling as she noticed how Haruka eyed her naked form quite unabashedly; it wasn't the first time she had slept with another woman, far from it, but it was the first time that she had woken up next to said woman, and from the way the blonde was looking at her, there would be a repeat performance later that day, and this would be a first – her one night stands so far had been just that, a fling for one night to take care of her needs, never more.

 _Who would have thought_ , she pondered as she moved to her pack of supplies, finding fresh clothes, hearing how Haruka got out of bed behind her, and taking the chance given to get a good look at her, as well, _you had to come to a dump like Pandora to find… well, whatever this is. A relationship? Business partners with benefits? Who knows._

Deciding that for now, what to call this didn't matter, she got dressed, then watched Haruka do the same; to her amusement, the blonde had brought a shirt and vest identical to the ones she had been wearing when she had been shot, making her wonder if she had any different outfits or just a few of the same kind.

"I usually wear stuff like that", the blonde answered the unasked question, smirking slightly, "Minako keeps teasing me about how she never knows if my clothes are actually fresh or if I've been wearing the same one for a week."

"Well, I can now at least reassure her that you put on a fresh one after you got shot", Michiru pointed out, earning a low chuckle from the blonde, "even though she might want to know where the wound is then, so, at second thought, we should keep this to ourselves."

Nodding her agreement, Haruka finished dressing by pulling on her boots; Michiru took the time for another brief kiss, then they left the guestroom together, noises from the kitchen telling them that at least one of their hosts was up already.

"Morning", they quickly found out that it was Makoto, the brunette moving back and forth in the small kitchen area as she prepared breakfast, the smell of freshly brewed coffee making Michiru realize how much she wanted some of it, "I hope you had a good night and are hungry, breakfast is almost done. Coffee, bacon, cheese and bread."

"Sounds good to me", Haruka commented, then asked if she could help; Makoto shook her head, letting her know that she was almost done, anyway, and telling her to sit down instead, asking her if she wanted some coffee.

"We don't have milk, I'm afraid", the brunette let them know as she filled two cups with coffee, then put them down in front of the two women, "but there's sugar, just don't use it all up or Ami will have your head. I need sugar to make cookies and cakes, and she loves my cookies and cakes."

"We don't want to risk her wrath, then", Michiru smiled, making sure to just use half a spoonful of sugar, "where is Ami, by the way, still asleep?"

"Nah, she's been up for hours", Makoto let her know, making her raise an eyebrow, "she usually gets up before dawn, to work. Some days, I have to drag her in here by her hair so she'll have breakfast with me."

She checked the bacon sizzling in the pan once more, then let them know that now, it was time to drag Ami in for breakfast; she left the room after supplying them with food, and the second they were alone, Haruka leaned closer to Michiru for a quick, but tender kiss, smirking when she picked up her mug afterwards, asking the sniper if she wanted to move on right after breakfast.

"Yes", Michiru gave back, lips still tingling from the brief kiss, secretly yearning for more, "I want to get to the Trash Coast as fast as possible. How long do you think it will take us to reach it?"

"Two or three days", Haruka let her know, shrugging when she raised an eyebrow, "it's quite the distance. So let's hope Ami's research turns out to be right, it'd be a shame if we go there for nothing."

Michiru simply nodded her agreement to that, not letting the treacherous thought which flashed through her mind show through her features – namely that, if it would turn out to be wrong and they wouldn't find anything there, it'd be an excuse to stay longer on Pandora, be with Haruka for longer, the thought that, once the key had been completed and the vault had been opened, she'd have to go back home, all at once heavy on her heart, once more making her wonder if this was a mistake after all.


	15. On the Road Again

Michiru had gotten used to the gunner's seat, but she wasn't fond of it; and now, with whatever it was Haruka and she had, she liked it even less, and much would have preferred to be right next to her instead, where she would be able to touch her, take in her scent and feel the warmth of her body.

Apparently though, Haruka had built her vehicle without a possible passenger who might want ride next to her in mind, and so, there simply wasn't enough room; and so, Michiru had to sit up there again, holding on firmly to the machine gun mounted in front of her, comforting herself with the thought that, at night, she'd get more than enough chances to touch Haruka.

"You okay up there?" the blonde called out to her, as if she had somehow picked up on her thoughts – and, to her dismay, had decided to interrupt them before they might get too kinky –, prompting her to give back that she was doing fine, holding back a remark about how she'd prefer to sit next to Haruka though, not wanting to distract her from driving by putting the thoughts she was harbouring into the taller woman's mind, as well – at least not while she was driving.

The car bounced as Haruka drove over one of the larger stones littering the wasteland they currently were travelling through; there was no proper road leading to their destination, so they had to drive over quite rough terrain, not making the whole thing more enjoyable… and her comfort decreased even further when she picked up the sound of another engine, somewhere in the distance.

"You hear that?" Haruka called out to her a second later, "sounds like we're about to get company."

"Why don't I think they're going to be friendly", Michiru replied, and as if that had been a cue, the car came into view, looking remarkably similar to the ones they had battled back at Grandpa Hino's farm, the way the two men riding it started yelling and gesticulating at each other immediately making it clear that they had noticed them, as well.

Apparently, the men weren't very fond of communication, since the one in their gunner seat immediately aimed the gun at their car; in response, Haruka swerved without missing a beat, a move Michiru had anticipated, and thus had adjusted her aim accordingly, smiling darkly when, after just a brief burst of bullets from her machine gun, the man in the car's gunner seat slumped forward, lifeless.

As if in retaliation, the driver stepped down harder on the gas pedal, speeding up; Michiru didn't need any special Siren powers to figure out what he wanted to do, but before she could call out to Haruka and warn her about it, the blonde was increasing the speed, as well, momentarily making Michiru feel quite foolish – after all, this wasn't the first time Haruka was dealing with bandits like that, and surely, it wasn't the first time that her opponent had decided ramming her vehicle was the best option they had.

 _She might not have had the training and mentors you had,_ she then reminded herself, simultaneously tracking the bandit's car with her gun, _but she's far from dumb._

Focusing fully on the task at hand again, she took a moment to aim, then squeezed the trigger; just as she did so though, the right front tire of the car rumpled over another large stone, jostling her just enough to let her shot gone wild, her eyes briefly widening when the bullets hit the armoured chassis instead of the man she had been aiming for.

It was the first time she had missed in fifteen years, and it stunned her so much that for a few precious seconds, all she could do was stare.

"Michiru!" Haruka called out to her when no shots followed the ones which harmlessly had pinged off the vehicle, "sorry bout that, but you gotta keep shooting!"

The urgency in the taller woman's voice snapped her out of her stupor, and she grit her teeth as she took aim again; this time, she didn't miss, and after another brief burst of bullets, the vehicle began to veer left and right uncontrolled as the driver hung dead over the steering wheel.

To her surprise, Haruka didn't stop the car to go through the belongings of the bandits, but kept driving, at high speed; curious, she called out to the blonde, asking why she wasn't stopping, having to admit that the answer made sense.

"They hardly ever are alone", Haruka let her know, raising her voice to be heard over the roar of the engine, "there might be a second car nearby, and I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on getting into a firefight if it can be avoided."

"Good point", Michiru gave back, glancing around as if she expected another car to appear any moment; they were left alone though, any other bandits which might be around not attacking them, and not too long after, Haruka judged that they were far away enough now, slowing down a bit again, making the ride a bit more comfortable for the sniper, the high speed having jostled her around quite a bit up in the gunner seat.

Making a mental note to reload the machine gun once they'd stop, Michiru relaxed as much as it was possible; she kept an eye out and her ears open for the sound of engines, but no other cars crossed their path, and they drove on without interruption until the sun started to set and Haruka suggested setting up camp for the night.

After Michiru had voiced her agreement, the blonde drove on a bit longer, until she found a place she deemed secure, an outcrop of rock in a half-circle shape, forming a natural barrier around a spot just big enough for them to put up their camp; with the car as big as it was, just using the rocks wouldn't help much with keeping them hidden, but if someone should try to attack them, they'd be limited to doing so from one side only, making it easier to defend themselves.

"Good choice", Michiru called down to her, "hand me up some bullets for the machine gun before I get down?"

In response, Haruka dug through their supplies, until she found one of the magazines for the gun; she tossed it up to Michiru, and the sniper quickly reloaded the machine gun, then climbed down from the gunner seat, stretching once she stood on firm ground again.

"Let's set up the camp first", she then suggested, already beginning to remove said bags from the car, "then we can get a fire started and warm some of the food Makoto packed for us?"

"Sounds like a plan", Haruka smirked, earning a smile from the sniper; with them working together, it didn't take long to set up the tent, and not long after they had found their camping spot for the night, the fire had been started and they were warming up their dinner, food Makoto had insisted on giving them before they had headed out earlier that day.

"If we make as good progress tomorrow as we did today, we should arrive at the Trash Coast tomorrow night, or the morning of the day after tomorrow at the latest", Haruka let her know after they just had eaten in comfortable silence for a while, "did Ami's file say anything about where exactly the key piece is there?"

"No", Michiru replied, interrupting herself with another forkful of food, only having realized how hungry she was when the smell had hit her minutes ago, "only that it is there. Hopefully, we'll find some clues once we made it there, or someone who might be able to point us into the right direction."

"Or your Siren powers will help out", Haruka gave back, shrugging when Michiru raised an eyebrow at her, "what? It's possible, right?"

"I don't know", the sniper had to admit, frowning to herself as she once more had to realize how little she knew about what she was, "I didn't even know I am a Siren until yesterday afternoon, so… I have no idea what I can or can't do. And I'm not quite sure how to find out."

"Perhaps you can find someone to teach you", the blonde suggested, "another Siren, or a scientist like Ami… after you've found and opened the vault."

This made Michiru think of the fact that their time together was limited again, and made her feel quite dismayed; if Haruka felt the same, she didn't let it show, merely giving her a brief smile before she focused on her food again.

For a while, they just sat there quietly, both focused on eating; again, the silence wasn't uncomfortable though, Michiru feeling content and somewhat relaxed when she had cleaned her plate and leaned back against the rock she used as support, Haruka finishing her portion just a few moments later.

"Man", she then said, looking at the plate almost sadly, the look on her face prompting Michiru to smirk, "if I had known what an awesome cook Makoto is, I would have talked her into coming with us."

"I doubt Ami would have been happy if we'd taken her along", Michiru pointed out with a small laugh, "they did seem quite… close."

"Good point", Haruka smirked, then raised an eyebrow when Michiru put her empty plate down and moved around the fire, to her side; she took the blonde's plate from her hand and put it aside, then moved even closer, until she was practically pressed up against her, the taller woman's breath quickening when Michiru ran a tender hand down her front.

"Not as close as we are though, perhaps", she said out loud, somewhat thoughtful; Haruka just had a moment to smirk at her, then Michiru was kissing her quite passionately, her hands simultaneously moving to the blonde's belt and undoing it with ease.

"Should we move this into the tent?" Haruka suggested in a breathless voice, earning a brief nod from Michiru – before the sniper took hold of her hand and they quickly got into the tent together, where they embraced again and kissed hungrily, eager to make the best of the time they'd have together.

* * *

In the next morning, after a quick breakfast, they both got into the car again and continued their way to the Trash Coast; to Michiru's relief, there weren't any more bandit attacks, making her wonder if by now, the two of them had built up a reputation which had begun to spread.

 _Couldn't hurt,_ she thought to herself as Haruka drove, the car eating the miles between them and their destination, _none of those bandits lived to tell the tale, but who knows how many they informed of their plans, and when they didn't come back…_

She smiled to herself as she imaged the outrage of the bandits; she'd met her share of them, on other planets she had travelled to before she had ended up on Pandora, and they'd all had two things in common: they had all been male, and all had been at first condescending when she had approached them, then outraged when she had turned out to be a skilled shooter – and then, usually just before they'd died, they'd been shocked and disbelieving, unable to cope with the fact that a small and petite woman like her had ended their life with such ease.

Perhaps, she pondered, with a slight smirk, they sat around their campfires at night, telling stories about the new team travelling the planet, tales about the ruthless sniper and her blonde companion; she wondered if they knew about what was between Haruka and her, and, if they did, if they cared, or if they just shrugged it off, the way people had done on other planets she had visited.

 _Not that you had anything like what you have here with Haruka anywhere else,_ she then realized – she had taken her share of women to bed, especially ever since she had left her home planet and had been away from her parents' watchful gaze, but she never had spent more than a night with them, always leaving early in the morning after.

"We'll be there soon", Haruka called out to her, distracting her from those ponderings, "an hour I guess, two at the most!"

"Quicker than expected, then", Michiru gave back, earning a vaguely agreeing noise from Haruka; glancing around, just to make sure no other vehicles were approaching, Michiru got as comfortable as she could in the gunner seat, then let her gaze focus on Haruka again as no threats were in sight, a smile curling her lips as she took in the way her short hair got even more tousled by the airstream, her eyes moving on then, to the hands resting on the steering wheel in a casual, but still firm grip, remembering how these hands had touched her the previous night, and how good these touches had made her feel.

 _You have no idea how special you are,_ she thought to herself, her eyes never leaving Haruka, _I might be a Siren, but there's another five of those in the universe… While you are the only one who makes me feel the way you do._

She smiled to herself, then looked up ahead again; all she saw was empty landscape though, with no threats anywhere in sight, and she allowed herself to relax, confident that things would work out just fine, especially as long as she'd have Haruka by her side.


	16. A Warning and a Fight

To Michiru's relief, they made it to the Trash Coast safely, without any more bandits trying to rob them; they passed a few abandoned camps, making her wonder if there was so little to acquire in this area that they had given up and moved on, none of the camps looking as if much fighting had happened there.

If she hadn't been so eager to get to the Coast, she would have suggested stopping for supplies; they still were well stocked though, so she didn't see a need to do so, and apparently, Haruka agreed, not even glancing at the camps as she drove past them.

Then, something else caught Michiru's eye, a rather unexpected construction up ahead; it appeared to be a crudely built bridge, with no apparent sense she could see, just crossing the road they were on, with what looked like a little hut right in the middle of it, making her wonder if someone actually lived up there, and how safe it could be, having a home so exposed to the naked eye.

Just as she wanted to point this out to Haruka, the bridge rumbled audibly and visibly, prompting her to raise an eyebrow; clearly, the blonde thought of this as odd, too, slowing down the car – and it had been quite the good thing that she had done so, Michiru realized, as all at once, a massive gate clanged down from the bridge, blocking the road, Haruka managing to stop the car just before it'd crash into it.

"Hands where I can see them", a rough voice called out to them, "and you up there in the gunner seat, you get them close to that gun and I'll blast your head off!"

For a second, Michiru still hesitated, well aware of how fast she was, figuring that she could draw her gun and fire before the person yelling at them would realize what she was doing; she couldn't see the target though, the speaker hiding somewhere in the little house on top of the bridge, and when Haruka raised her hands, she did the same, deciding that for now, it might be the better move to just go along.

"We don't want any trouble", Haruka called out, keeping her hands in the air, "we just want to get to the coast!"

"You're not Crimson Lance, are you", the voice called back, Michiru by now having identified it as male, the owner still hiding away in the little house though, where she couldn't see him, "if you are, I'll kill you!"

"Do we look like Crimson Lance", the blonde demanded to know, sounding so indignant that Michiru couldn't help herself, but just had to smile, "no, we don't, so let us pass!"

"Not so fast", the man called back, still keeping himself hidden from view, "what is your business at the Coast, if you're not Crimson Lance?"

"I'm a Vault Hunter", Michiru was the one to answer now, an uneasy feeling coming over her seconds later, prompting her to ask herself if he was aiming a gun at her now, "and we have reason to believe that part of what we need to find the vault is at the Coast."

"The Vault will only bring you pain", the man replied, not sounding as if he was very concerned for their well-being though, "if you want some advice, turn around now and leave. Find another vault on another planet."

"We don't want your advice", Michiru replied, now not bothering anymore to sound friendly and soothing, "and by now, you've talked to us long enough to let me figure out where exactly in your little house you are standing. I'll let you know that I am exceptionally skilled with my guns, and even though you might be aiming your weapon at me now, I am confident that I will have mine out and fired before you can pull the trigger."

"Yeah, she is that good", Haruka added when no response came for a while, "trust me, I've seen her in action."

For a few more moments, the man remained quiet; then, the weird feeling Michiru had had stopped, and another few heartbeats later, he stepped out of the house and into view, the heavy gun he was carrying over his shoulder now, his rather long, shaggy bangs hiding his eyes, both women not doubting though that he was looking at them.

"Hey, I know you", Haruka stated, sounding surprised now, "you've been to Minako's bar a few times!"

"Yes, but now I live here", the young man replied, sounding a bit friendlier now that the blonde had made the comment about knowing him from the bar, "so I haven't been there in a while, it's too far."

"And you keep people from going to the Coast?" Michiru wanted to know, frowning, "why?"

"Not people in general", he told her, "just the Crimson Lance guys. I'm not quite sure, I never asked, but this doctor pays me do to just that, and she pays quite well."

At this, Michiru raised an eyebrow, quite sure that said doctor was Ami; she asked herself why she would want to keep the Crimson Lance away from the Trash Coast, but apparently had no problem with letting anyone else go there, and if she had instructed the man to make the comment about the vault only bringing pain, in a rather pitiful attempt to keep bandits away.

"Well, we are not Crimson Lance, so you can let us through", Haruka pointed out while Michiru pondered these things; to her relief, the man nodded, warning them about the vault once more though before he went back into the little house, the gate moving up again moments later.

"Thanks, mate", Haruka called out as she stepped on the gas pedal again, Michiru making sure to wait until they were out of earshot before she spoke up, raising her voice to be heard over the roar of the engine.

"That was kind of peculiar, don't you think", she wanted to know, Haruka slowing down as she craned her neck to look at her, making her glad that this wasn't a busy road, "the way he talked about the vault? There was nothing in Ami's notes about what it might contain, but he sounded rather sure of it."

"Perhaps she told him to say that", Haruka replied with a shrug, not appearing all too disturbed, "to keep people away. Not that I think it would work, not against bandits and certainly not against the Crimson Lance."

"And not us, either", Michiru added with a small laugh, earning a chuckle and a nod from the taller woman; she smiled as she leaned back into the seat again, getting as comfortable as it was possible up there while Haruka drove on, the sniper feeling quite excited again as she all at once was sure that soon, the next piece of the key would be in their hands.

* * *

When they kept driving and came upon nobody else, Michiru started to get suspicious; the first few empty camps hadn't seemed strange, but as they drove past a few more, she started to wonder if perhaps, there wasn't a reason for it, one much darker and sinister than simple bandit wars gone out of hand.

"Haruka", she thus called out as they passed yet another empty camp, "this is the sixth abandoned camp we drove past since morning. Isn't this weird?"

"A bit", the blonde let her know, not helping with lessening her feeling that something was wrong, "but not unheard of. They just move on some times, when there's nothing left for them in the area. And of course there's the fights between the gangs…"

"None of these camps look as if there was fighting, though", Michiru pointed out, "I mean, we didn't get a good look at them, but I'm pretty sure I saw enough to—"

A harsh shriek from above interrupted her, and her hand automatically flew to the gun at her hip as she looked up; she immediately spotted the origin of the noise and grimaced as she watched a bunch of bird-like creatures cycle up in the sky, large, leathery wings carrying the sleek, elongated bodies with ease.

"Rakk", Haruka called out to her, briefly making her worry that the blonde had swallowed a bug and was trying to cough it back up, before she realized that this actually had been a word and not some sound of distress, "as long as they circle up there, we'll be fine. If they started to come down though, fire away."

As if they had heard those words, the creatures let out a series of shrieks, Michiru having a second to ask herself if they were communicating – before they, in frightening unison, started to swoop downwards, Haruka letting out a rather harsh curse in reaction, clearly not all too eager to fight these things up close.

When they came closer, Michiru could see why – unlike the birds on her home planet, the Rakk had no teeth, their flat heads ending in a pointy snout lined with hooked and barb-like teeth, a bony plate protecting the top of the head, the fact that their long tails were covered in sharp, curved talons not helping with making them appear any less dangerous.

Not wanting to let them get too close, Michiru opened fire, just as Haruka had asked her to; to her relief, they only sported the bony plates on their heads, the underbelly soft and unprotected, and this was what she aimed for, holding back a noise of disgust when her shots found their targets and blood and what she assumed to be Rakk guts splattered Haruka, herself and the car.

Still, despite how gross it was, she kept firing, trailing them with the machine gun when they tried to get out of the line of fire, again making her wonder if they were communicating and how smart they were; as if to show her that they weren't exactly dumb, one of them veered off to the left and one to the right, and not even her exceptional skill with the gun allowed her to shoot both of them.

"Careful, the tail!" she still heard Haruka cry out, then the one who had gone off to the right came swooping down; and seconds later, sharp pain made her grit her teeth as the Rakk made sure to drag its taloned tail over her protectively raised arm, briefly making her glad that she had brought said arm up in time, not wanting to imagine what the talons might have done to her face.

Even though her own blood was mixing with the Rakk blood spattered onto the car now, Michiru didn't let the injury stop her; gritting her teeth against the pain, she kept firing, and not long after, the last of the Rakk let out a screech as bullets hit and it fell, hitting the road behind them.

"That was the last of them", Michiru called out to Haruka, "let's hope there aren't any… more…"

She made the mistake of looking at her arm as she spoke, and got the first good look at the gashes the talons had torn into her flesh; there were five, close to each other, and they went deep, the world blurring around her when she saw a shimmer of white through the mess of shredded flesh and blood.

 _Bone_ , her mind shrieked at her, _that's bone, that's how deep that thing's talons went, all the way to the bone!_

She swayed, feeling sick, dimly hearing Haruka call out to her; she barely noticed how the car slowed down, then stopped, but what she did notice was a pair of strong arms wrapping around her, then lifting her out of the seat, the world blurring even further at the motion while strange groaning sounds reached her ears.

"Hush", Haruka murmured as she carefully climbed down from the vehicle, somehow managing to do so without dropping her, and she realized that the weird sounds had come from her; she had been hurt a few times since she had started vault hunting, but it never had been so bad that she had seen her own bone, the mere thought making her feel nauseous until she was sure she'd puke any moment.

 _Don't throw up and don't pass out_ , she sternly told herself, with the small part of her mind which still worked rationally, _you're Michiru Kaioh, you can handle this, get a hold of yourself!_

The ground rumbled, making her wonder dully if this was another symptom of shock; then, she felt Haruka tighten her embrace around her, a hint of fear in the blonde's voice as she mumbled "Oh _shit_ ", the tone being enough to bring Michiru back at least enough to let her look, her heart performing a leap up to her throat when she saw the monstrosity rising from the ground.

It was huge, that was the first thing she noticed, larger than the tallest building she had seen so far on this planet; as it dug itself out from the earth, she had time to notice the four stubbly legs, the four long, thin arms and the same number of strangely pearly eyes, a cold and alien gaze inhabiting them as the massive head turned and the eyes focused on them.

"Oh shit", Haruka repeated her earlier statement, lowering Michiru to the ground as fast as she dared before she almost yanked her machine gun from the holster, moving to stand in front of Michiru, the sniper struggling to stay conscious as she asked herself why they had been warned about the vault, but not about _this_ , if this thing was the reason why all the bandits at the Trash Coast were gone, and if they would get out of this alive or if their quest would end right then and there.


	17. Creature Feature

It just took a few shots for Haruka to realize that her machine gun didn't do much damage to the strange creature which had emerged from the ground; and even though she didn't like the thought of leaving Michiru unprotected, she knew that she didn't have much of a choice, holstering her machine gun as she ran to the car.

The creature roared in response to her sudden movement, and from the corner of her eye, she saw how it raised one of its thin arms; not letting the appearance of the appendage fool her, Haruka forced herself to wait until the last possible second, performing a daring dive the moment the arm came down, the ground trembling when it slammed down onto the spot where the blonde had been the blink of an eye earlier.

Quickly, before the creature could try to land another hit, Haruka climbed up to the gunner seat, dropping into it and taking firm hold of the mounted machine gun; now she was glad that they hadn't been in any firefights since the previous day, and that Michiru had thought of reloading it before they had made camp for the night, gritting her teeth as she took aim, then pulled the trigger.

The _rat-tat-tat_ of the mounted machine gun was loud enough to bring Michiru back from her shock-induced stupor, at least far enough to let her realize what was going on; reminding herself again that she was Michiru Kaioh, and that she wouldn't let a few scratches take her down like this, she struggled to sit up, setting her jaw against the pulsing pain in her arm, keeping her gaze away from the wounds, knowing that seeing them would only make it worse again.

Giving her best to not move her injured arm too much, she pulled her gun from the holster, knowing that her sniper rifle wasn't an option; her hand shook as she brought up the gun, but she set her jaw and reminded herself who she was, of the things she could do, and after a few heartbeats, the trembling stopped, her pain forgotten as all she focused on was the creature and the shot she would have to make.

Haruka still was firing away from the gunner seat, not even stopping when the creature slammed one arm against the vehicle and made it rock; clearly though, the bullets didn't do much damage, and even if the blonde by now had figured out what she had to aim for, the mounted machine gun didn't have enough accuracy to let her aim properly.

Keeping her hand steady, briefly wondering if she could do so only thanks to what her father always had called her iron will and her mother had referred to as unbelievable stubbornness, a trait a lady should not possess, or if her newly discovered Siren powers were helping, Michiru aimed carefully, not taking longer than absolutely necessary though; then, she pulled the trigger, and the creature roared in pain as her shot took out one of its eyes.

In the gunner seat, Haruka flinched at her shot, then looked at her in surprise, clearly not having expected her to join the fight; she got over feeling startled quickly though, focusing on the task at hand again, trying to aim for the eyes as she kept firing, cursing herself for getting a gun which was so inaccurate, feeling a bit better though when one of her bullets found what she had been aiming for, taking out another one of the creature's eyes.

Another shot from Michiru took care of the third, leaving only one; eager to finish the thing off, Haruka kept firing, but before she could land another hit, the creature let out another massive howl, then slammed one arm against the car again – which much more force this time, the blonde yelping in dismay when she felt the vehicle begin to topple beneath her.

Hurriedly, she scrambled out of the seat, then jumped, just as the car began to fall over; she hit the ground harder than anticipated and rolled a few feet, ending up close to Michiru, the sniper gritting her teeth so hard that her jaw muscles were working visibly beneath the skin as she tried to take aim again, her hand now shaking again, despite her hardest tries to make it stop.

With another roar, the creature brought its arm up again, Haruka's eyes going wide as she realized that the thing was aiming for Michiru, now that the car had been taken out of the fight; without missing a beat, she shot forward, mentally apologizing to the sniper as she tackled her, took firm hold of her and, using her own momentum and Michiru's added weight, rolled out of the danger zone with her, the flattened end of the creature's arm slamming down onto the ground just the blink of an eye later.

"Should have seen that coming", Michiru grumbled while Haruka hurried to get off of her, giving her another chance at firing; again, she took a moment to aim, once more forcefully steadying her hand, then pulled the trigger, letting out the breath she had been holding when the shot hit the last remaining good eye of the thing.

It let out another shriek in reply, a shudder running through the massive body; then, it began to pulse oddly, contracting and expanding, Haruka realizing just in time what was happening, grabbing Michiru's good arm, not bothering to explain, making her yelp as she dragged her over to where the car laid on its side, both of them finding cover behind it just seconds before the creature contracted one more time – and then it exploded, bits and pieces of it raining down onto the landscape while rocks flew from around the area where it had been, several of them hitting the car hard enough to put dents in the metal.

"Well", Michiru finally was the one to break the silence a few minutes later, her ears still ringing from the explosion, "that certainly was unexpected. Tell me, Haruka, does it happen often on this planet that the very soil spits out creatures eager to eat a person?"

"More often than one would think", Haruka gave back, smiling weakly when Michiru rolled her eyes, "but usually, they're not that big. And not that hard to kill."

"That's calming", the sniper dryly told her, earning a low snort; now that the fight was over, the pain from her injuries came back to the surface, and she grimaced, still finding it hard to look at her arm, remembering all too well how bad the wounds had looked.

"I'd say we should clean and bandage that", Haruka stated, making the smaller woman look at her, "but all of our supplies are in the car, and the car fell over, so…"

"Also, we are quite messy", Michiru pointed out, the blonde having to admit that this was a good point, both of them covered from head to toe in Rakk blood, dust and dirt from the ground, "we should clean ourselves up before we think of cleaning those wounds."

"One of those camps we passed had a water hole", Haruka remembered, "and it wasn't too far, so we should be able to walk there, if you're up to it? Maybe we can find some useful stuff there, too."

"Let's go, then", Michiru gave back, still carefully avoiding it to look at her arm, "but first, we should check if anything can still be salvaged from our bags."

Nodding her agreement, Haruka told her that she would take care of that, and that she should get some rest in the meantime; grateful, Michiru smiled and nodded, then watched how Haruka moved to search the bags which had not been squished flat by the car, smiling slightly to herself as she realized that this was the first time she showed this sort of weakness to anyone, by merely allowing it that someone else did the task at hand while she did nothing but sit there.

 _Perhaps, some day, I'll find the words to tell you how special you are,_ she thought to herself while Haruka rescued some clothing, medical supplies and ammunition from their supplies; the rest of the bags was either trapped beneath the car or had their supplies leaking out of them, and thus, she gave them up as a lost cause, somewhat proudly presenting her findings to the sniper as she moved back to her side.

"Ready to go?" she then asked, making Michiru nod; she came to her feet, and side by side, they started walking, heading back to the abandoned camp, both of them eager to get there so they could clean up and have some rest after the unexpected and difficult fight.

* * *

Before they got clean, they used the water hole to fill up their bottles; then, they both undressed and stepped into the surprisingly warm water, Michiru letting out a content sigh as she sat down and got comfortable.

"Am I glad this water is not ice cold", she then told Haruka, briefly gritting her teeth when the water made contact with her wounds; the blonde nodded her agreement, then moved closer to her, taking careful hold of her arm, giving her an apologetic look when the sniper let out a wince at the small movement.

"Sorry", she then murmured, not letting go though, knowing that the gashes had to be cleaned before they could think of stitching them; she briefly was glad that their little first aid pack hadn't been damaged when the car had fallen over, "I'm trying to be careful, but…"

"It's alright", Michiru reassured her, knowing it had to be done; Haruka gave her another unhappy look, then focused on the gashes, grimacing as she got her first good look at them, dismayed by how deep the Rakk's talons had cut into the sniper's arm.

"It's unfortunate I don't know how to heal myself with my Siren powers", Michiru commented, hoping that talking would distract her from the pain when Haruka started cleaning the wounds, "or these cuts would be gone fairly quickly."

"Well, I was out cold the last time you used those powers", Haruka reminded her, "so sadly, I can't really help with that. Hey, maybe I should get shot again, that might activate them once more."

"Don't you dare", Michiru strictly told her, making her chuckle, "it was distressing enough to see you get shot once, thank you."

"Okay, not getting shot then", the blonde smirked, "that wasn't a serious suggestion, anyway."

"You don't say", the sniper snarked, earning another laugh from the taller woman; she smiled back at her, somewhat relieved when Haruka, after a critical look at her arm, told her that it was as clean as it would get, and that they'd have to stitch it up next, perhaps after adding some disinfectant.

"If the bottle didn't break", she mused out loud, failing to notice the way Michiru was looking at her; the warm water had soothed the pain after the initial brief increase, and she found herself quite distracted from the necessary medical attention the gashes still needed as she took in the blonde's lean form, water dripping from her hair and trailing down her shoulders and arms.

"Well", she half said, half purred, making Haruka look at her in surprise, an emotion which quickly was replaced with a by now familiar glint in her eyes, "I imagine you are right. But perhaps it can wait a bit longer? This water is so nicely warm, and watching you clean up, well… it has given me a few ideas how to make good use of this pool."

"Is that so", Haruka smirked, already moving closer to her; Michiru just smiled, then reached out with her good arm and pulled her closer, her injuries fully forgotten as their lips met, the leftover adrenaline from the previous fight making the kiss even more passionate and hungry than their previous ones, all wounds and worries which had been on the sniper's mind soon forgotten at Haruka's kiss and touch.


	18. New Ride

After the bath and much nicer activities in the water hole, Haruka finally disinfected and stitched up Michiru's injuries; she wasn't as good with this as other people she knew were, but Michiru reassured her that she had done well enough, after she had sat through the stitching with grit teeth and had the pain under control enough to examine them.

"It's gonna scar", Haruka told her as she wrapped the bandage around her arm, "but hey, if it makes you feel better, you've been on Pandora longer without gaining any scars than anyone I know."

"Not really, no", Michiru gave back, giving her best to hold still as Haruka knotted the bandage, "but I imagine gaining scars is part of being a vault hunter. Now I'll have an exciting story to tell once I get back home."

She realized her blunder the moment the words had left her mouth; so far, neither Haruka nor she had openly acknowledged that sooner or later, she would return to her home planet, and they hadn't spoken about what they would do then, if they'd just part ways or find another solution, and now here she was, dragging this painful topic out into the open, and just after they had been intimate with each other, too.

"I guess so, yeah", Haruka gave back, her voice so neutral that Michiru immediately could tell it took an effort to keep it that way; and immediately, she wanted to apologize, but couldn't find the right words, only able to give the blonde a helpless look, a bit relieved when the taller woman smiled at her in response.

"I'll go see if there's anything useful around here", she then stated, finishing with the bandage and coming to her feet, shaking her head when Michiru offered to help.

"You stay right where you are", she told her, "I've had wounds stitched before, and, trust me on this, if you get up too quickly after it's done, you're gonna get dizzy and might faint."

"Oh", Michiru gave back, not all too smart, but figuring that Haruka knew what she was talking about – she had seen the scars after all when they had made love, and knew how many of them had been stitched up, just another indication for how dangerous it was to live on Pandora.

 _Take her with you,_ she thought to herself, not quite sure where that thought had come from, _take her away from all of this and take her home with you._

For a second, the thought seemed lovely, almost made her smile; then, she thought of how out of place Haruka would be and surely also feel on her home world, and of all the things the blonde would have to leave behind, her home and her friends and a life which was simple and dangerous, but one she clearly was comfortable with, and the urge to smile was gone as she realized how unfair it would be to the blonde to take her away from all this, to a planet she didn't know, with people who wouldn't approve of her.

She almost grimaced at the thought of Haruka meeting her parents; they might have gone bankrupt, but they still had the mannerism and behaviour of rich people, and she didn't want to imagine how they might react to someone like Haruka, the condescending tone they surely would take on and the way they would look at her.

 _They'd never realize what a good person she is,_ she thought to herself, watching how Haruka moved through the abandoned, crudely built huts and tents, finding, to her relief, quite a bit of stuff they could use; by the time she returned to where the sniper was sitting, she was carrying several boxes of ammunition, canned food and bottled water, and from the way she was smirking in satisfaction, Michiru figured that this wasn't all she had found.

"Good news", she stated, confirming this assumption, "I found a motorbike in one of the sheds. I didn't test it, but it looks good, so it should at least take us as far as to the Coast, and there, we should be able to find some other ride, as far as I know, there's a town there."

Michiru doubted that the people of said town would give them a ride without payment, but she figured that they could worry about this once they got there; for the moment, she just was glad that they didn't need to walk, the fact that she'd get to sit right behind Haruka and would have to hold on tight to her only an added bonus.

"I'll check it properly after we ate", Haruka told her, sitting down next to her and piling her findings on the ground in front of them, "then I'd say we spend the night here and continue tomorrow?"

The sniper nodded her agreement, then checked the food Haruka had found; to her surprise and delight, there was enough of a selection for a proper dinner, and soon, after Haruka had built a fire for them to heat the food, they were ready to eat, Michiru smiling to herself as she wondered what the people from her home planet would say to this dinner of meat and beans, all of them used to a much more refined cuisine.

After the excitement of the day though, she figured she would have wolfed down anything, even skag; and it tasted surprisingly good, the meat well spiced and the beans firm to the bite, the two of them washing the food down with lukewarm water from the bottles Haruka had found.

"There's beds in a few of those huts", Haruka told her between forkfuls of food, "if you don't mind the idea of sleeping in a bed a bandit used before, we can use one of those tonight instead of the tent."

"We'll just find the cleanest one", Michiru replied, earning a low chuckle which made her smile, as well, "while I do enjoy sharing a tent with you, I'm quite taken by the idea of sleeping in a bed again. It's so much more… comfortable."

She reached out with one hand and placed it on Haruka's upper leg at the last word, making her smirk slightly; smiling back at her, Michiru leaned in for a brief kiss, then focused on her dinner again, her plate emptied not long afterwards, and despite her wounds still paining her, she felt quite content, telling herself that she could have ended up much worse on this dump of a planet than with her belly full and a companion like Haruka by her side.

"How's your arm", Haruka distracted her from those ponderings; she shrugged, briefly glancing at the bandage before she looked at the blonde again, managing another smile despite the throbbing the shrug had caused in her arm.

"Hurts a bit", she then let her know, briefly wondering again if Haruka knew how much it meant that she admitted this to her – one of the first things she had been taught was that she never could show weakness to anyone, and yet here she was, admitting that she was in pain, and not feeling the slightest bit regretful about it.

"Pity we don't have any painkillers", Haruka told her, frowning at her arm, as if looking at it with enough dismay would make the pain less, "but if we find some spike pods, I can make a tea from them, that at least numbs the pain. Minako always made that tea for me whenever I got hurt."

"Does it make one woozy, like regular painkillers?" Michiru wanted to know, not liking the thought of that, "because that'd be a bad thing, especially for a sniper."

"It doesn't", Haruka reassured her, "it just numbs the pain a bit. So if we find any, it'll be better than nothing?"

"Sure", Michiru agreed after a moment, smiling at her as she moved closer to her, her smile widening when immediately, the taller woman put both arms around her, pulling her even closer for some snuggles, "you know, I'm really quite glad that I agreed when you offered to help me."

"I hope my vast knowledge about this planet isn't the only reason you're glad", Haruka smirked, raising an eyebrow at the sniper's reply.

"No, no", Michiru reassured her, a hint of mischief making her eyes twinkle, "your skill with the machine gun is another thing I value. Oh, and your driving skill, too, of course."

"Thank you", Haruka dryly gave back, earning a giggle from the sniper before she leaned in for another kiss, the mischief gone from her voice when she replied, replaced by warmth which sent a pleasant shiver up and down the taller woman's spine.

"And there are other things I value about you", she let her know, reaching up with her good arm so she could rub the back of Haruka's neck, knowing the blonde liked it when she caressed the soft, fine hair there, "but since a lady isn't supposed to kiss and tell, I can't really say those out loud, you know."

"I don't think that applies when you're telling to the one you're kissing", Haruka pointed out; Michiru just smiled coyly in reply, then kissed her once more, suggesting that they should look for the cleanest bed afterwards, giggling at the way Haruka immediately nodded, with such enthusiasm that she feared for a moment the taller woman might give herself whiplash.

Figuring that by now, it would be safe to get up, Michiru came to her feet, prompting Haruka to do the same; she grasped her hand, then they headed off to the nearest hut together, both hoping that they'd find a clean bed quickly, eager to have some more quality time together before their journey would continue in the next day.

* * *

Before they got moving in the next morning, Haruka checked the motorbike she had found thoroughly; and Michiru had to admit that she quite enjoyed watching her do so, her gaze fixed on the blonde's lean forearms as she worked on the bike, having rolled up the sleeves of her shirt to not get it dirty and giving her quite the good view.

Sternly, she reminded herself that they had to get on the road again once Haruka would be satisfied with the bike, and that they couldn't afford to delay their journey even further; still, watching how the blonde worked on the bike with concentration, but ease, the sinews moving visibly in her arms, she felt a familiar tingle in her stomach and a bit farther south, finally forcing herself to look away before it could get any worse and she might end up with irresistible urge to jump her companion.

Figuring that she had to keep herself busy somehow, as well, while Haruka was working on the bike, Michiru decided that it couldn't hurt to check on her weapons; the movements were so familiar that she could perform them in her sleep, but distracted her sufficiently, even though they brought up pain in her injured arm, something she ignored the best she could.

"The bike looks good", Haruka's voice distracted her from her task quite some time later, "it might not only take us to the Coast, but back to Fyrestone afterwards, as well. Whoever owned it, apparently, they took good care of it."

"So we won't have to worry that it will fall apart beneath us?" Michiru smirked, earning a low snort from the blonde while she cleaned her hands, then, to the sniper's dismay, rolled her sleeves back down, "that is a reassuring thought."

Haruka just smirked in response, then asked if she was ready to go; nodding, Michiru holstered her weapons, then came to her feet, deciding that she'd trust the blonde about the state of the motorbike as they packed up the few supplies they still had left, smiling to herself as she thought about how much of the trust she had in Haruka this displayed yet again.

It didn't take them long to stow the few supplies they had on the bike, Haruka checking twice to make sure nothing could fall off once they'd be driving; then, she got onto the vehicle and started the engine, Michiru waiting until it was running smoothly before she climbed on, as well, wrapping both arms around the blonde's waist.

"Hold on tight", Haruka told her, raising her voice a bit since the engine was quite loud; Michiru reassured her that she would, mindful of her injuries as she tightened her hold on the taller woman, still briefly squeezing her eyes shut though when Haruka started driving, the fact that now, she was on a motorbike and not in the bulky car anymore clearly being no incentive for her to drive slow.

The fact that the road wasn't exactly well-maintained didn't help much either; and when Haruka sped up even further once they had left the perimeter of the camp, Michiru almost was tempted to stop her and tell her that they could walk, grimacing to herself as she held on tight to her, hoping with fervour that they would find another piece of the vault key soon, just to make sure that she wasn't suffering through all of this for nothing.


	19. Old Haven

By the time the town Haruka had mentioned finally appeared on the horizon, Michiru sincerely doubted that she'd ever regain feeling in her behinds; she did enjoy sitting so close to Haruka on the bike, and having her arms wrapped around her, but the vibrations and the not all too comfortable seat were taking their toll on her by now, and she was quite relieved when buildings became visible in the distance.

"Old Haven", Haruka called out to her over the roar of the engine, "if the piece is not there, someone who might be able to help us find it could be. We'll just have to try our luck."

Michiru let out a vaguely agreeing noise, briefly tightening her hold on Haruka when the bike bounced more than usual on the uneven road; she held back the urge to shift on her seat, focusing on the town up ahead instead, her relief short-lived though as something caught her eye, a frown creasing her brow as she squinted.

"Stop the bike", she called out to Haruka, the blonde reacting at once by slowing down, then stopping fully, not bothering to question her; she just watched curiously how Michiru hopped off the bike, briefly grimacing at the tingling in her thighs and a bit farther up, then raised one hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she squinted at the object which had caught her eye again.

"…I think we have a problem", she then stated, turning to look at Haruka again, momentarily distracted though by the dashing figure the blonde cut on the motorbike, "that looks like a crimson flag, and unless this town happens to have the same colour as our army friends…"

"Ah crap", Haruka let out in response, making the sniper smile slightly, "that's just our luck, isn't it. At first some creepy giant monster thing comes out of the ground to eat us and now, the only town in this area has been taken over by these douchebags."

"Makes sense though", Michiru had to admit with a sigh, Haruka's words having completely ruled out the option that perhaps, the town used a flag similar to the one of the army, "if there really is a piece of the key around here, and they are after it, it'd make sense to have a base close to it."

"Yeah, but it still sucks", Haruka gave back, making the sniper smirk as she nodded; she glanced at the town again, asking herself how much of it was under control of the Crimson Lance, if they had just taken parts of it over or if everyone who had been living there had been forced to leave, realizing that either way, approaching on the quite noisy bike wasn't an option any longer.

"I hope you're good with stealth", she thus said, looking at her companion again, "do you know anything about the layout of this city?"

"Stealth should be doable", Haruka told her, killing the bike's engine and waiting until Michiru had gotten off before she did the same, "but I don't know anything about that town. I just know it exists."

Even though this wasn't what she had hoped for, Michiru shrugged it off, figuring they would find a way; and while Haruka hid the bike, moving it behind one of the larger boulders for that purpose, not the perfect hiding place, but on such short notice, it would have to do.

"We better give that town a wide berth for now", Michiru suggested once Haruka was back at her side, "just walking up on that road is a bad idea. Perhaps we can find some more discreet way inside after dark."

"Let's hope they haven't spotted us yet", Haruka said with a grimace, earning a nod from the sniper; they both took another look at the town, neither of them spotting any suspicious movement though, Michiru taking the lead after another moment, walking off the road and into the dry, brown and sandy wasteland, Haruka right beside her, both of them glancing at the town every now and then, asking themselves what would await them there.

* * *

Neither Haruka, nor Michiru wanted to risk discovery by lighting a fire, and so, they had cold lunch, Michiru thinking to herself that the beans lost quite a lot of their appeal when eaten cold and straight from the can; still she forced herself to eat it all up, knowing she would need the energy, especially if they'd spend a big part of the night sneaking into the town.

"Perhaps we should try to get some sleep after lunch", she suggested once she had realized how long their nightly mission might take, "if we go to that town after dark, who knows how long we might have to stay awake, and we should be fully alert and not tired."

"Good point", Haruka agreed at once, "but we should find a spot with a bit more cover, we are quite out in the open here."

Michiru nodded to that, realizing that this was a good point – they hadn't encountered any patrols so far, but that didn't mean that the Crimson Lance wasn't sending any into the area around town, and the last thing they needed was that a patrol might stumble upon them as they slept, even though she was quite sure they wouldn't end up getting surprised, not with her light sleep and alertness even when she wasn't awake.

Briefly, she wondered if this was a result of her years of training, or if it was another manifestation of her Siren powers; just a few days ago, she pondered, she would have been sure that she had been taught how to be alert and aware at all times, even when asleep, but now, after she had learned what she was and not having an idea what her powers even were yet, she knew that she couldn't be so sure anymore.

"Maybe we can find a cave nearby", Haruka distracted her from those thoughts, making her look at the blonde again, "then it'll be dark, and we won't have to bother with the tent. Not to mention that the tent would be quite… noticeable."

"Good point", it now was Michiru's turn to say, making the taller woman smile, "so we better eat up quickly and see if we can find a good spot. Or a cave."

In response, Haruka sped up the consumption of her meal, and Michiru did the same; and not long after, they had finished and got moving again, searching for a good location to get some sleep, Michiru still looking at the town every now and then, mildly disturbed by the lack of patrols and activity, having the feeling that something wasn't quite right about this, suddenly worried as she wondered how their infiltration of the town would go.

* * *

To Michiru's relief, Haruka turned out to be quite good at moving soundlessly; and so, neither she, nor the blonde made any noise as they approached the town under the cover of darkness, making sure to keep away from the few spots of light which illuminated several areas around the town.

"Strange", Haruka whispered to her after they had successfully navigated another circle of light, "I haven't noticed anyone in there. Maybe they packed up and left."

"That would be bad though", Michiru pointed out, keeping her voice down to a whisper, as well, "because it would mean that they found the piece and that is why they left."

Realizing that Michiru was right, the blonde grimaced in response, making her smile slightly; and just then, as if to reassure that they wouldn't get disheartened, voices came up several feet ahead, close to one of the small gates Michiru had chosen as a possible entry point for them.

"…we are still staying here", one man said, sounding gruff, making them both wonder if they were stuck on guard duty and not quite happy about it, "if one of these things would be anywhere around here, we would have found it by now, don't you think?"

"Well, yeah", a second male responded, while Michiru gave Haruka a brief questioning look as she slid her gun from the holster, then pointed at the butt, earning a brief nod from the blonde, gesturing at her to stay put afterwards, making her raise an eyebrow before she apparently figured that Michiru knew what she was doing, since she nodded again.

Curious, Haruka watched how Michiru snuck closer to the small entrance, gun raised to shoulder height, moving with a silent grace she never had seen like this before, her movements so smooth and quiet that it made it look as if she was underwater, and not in some dusty wasteland, after an afternoon spent sleeping on the cold stone floor of a cave.

She didn't even notice that she held her breath as Michiru got closer and closer to the gate, only realizing now that she didn't know much about how good the sniper was with hand to hand combat; she had bested her in the bar, after she had commented on how she doubted that the smaller woman truly was a vault hunter, but she was no soldier, and had no idea how good the Crimson Lance soldiers were at defending themselves in close combat.

Up ahead, Michiru paused, and Haruka swallowed heavily, her hand dropping to her machine gun and loosening it in the holster so she could pull it out quickly, should it be needed; and then, Michiru exploded into motion, and Haruka forgot all about her intentions to help her, unable to do anything else than stand and stare.

She never had seen anyone move that fast, she realized, as Michiru sped up to one of the soldiers; while he still was turning his head, she already pistol-whipped him, either landing an exceptionally lucky hit or having frighteningly good aim, since the man went down without even a grunt, and while he still was falling, her free arm already shot out to grab the other one and yank him forward, a quick sidestep allowing her to bash his head against the iron frame of the gate.

He, at least, managed to get out a grunt, Haruka randomly thought to herself as she watched him slump to the ground in a lifeless heap; she wondered if moving like this and taking two well-trained and well-armed soldiers down like that was part of Michiru's Siren powers, or if she had been trained to do this, unaware of the gobsmacked way she was looking at the sniper when Michiru turned to face her again.

"Wow", she then whispered, realizing that she had to look like an idiot, hurriedly moving to Michiru's side, "that was impressive. And a bit scary."

"And effective", Michiru pointed out, bending down to take the men's weapons from them; thanks to that, Haruka couldn't see her face, and couldn't see her brief struggle to control her emotions, after she had noticed how the blonde had stared at her just moments ago.

 _She's scared of you,_ a small, nasty voice whispered in the back of her mind, none of this showing through her features though, as she had regained perfect control over them, _and you didn't even use any of your more spectacular powers yet. Who knows what she will think of you once you discover what you_ really _can do._

She didn't even know herself yet, she had to admit, having not the slightest idea of what her powers contained; still the thought of doing something which might scare Haruka away made her heart clench up, nothing on this showing through her expression though by the time she had taken the weapons and extra ammo from the men and straightened up again.

"Gun?" she asked Haruka, forcing a smile to curl her lips as she held one of the two pistols out to her; unlike the blonde's machine gun, it was practically brand-new, Haruka's eyes lighting up as she accepted it, the gun apparently still not distracting her enough though to let her notice that something was a bit off at Michiru's smile, as she briefly frowned, then took a closer look while tugging the gun into the waistband of her pants.

"You okay?" she asked after a moment, surprising the sniper with how well she apparently could read her already; she forced herself to nod, telling herself that there was no time to discuss her worries now, unable to keep a slight edge of her voice though when she told her that they should keep moving, before the men would come back around and raise the alarm.

Clearly, Haruka didn't quite believe her, giving her a sceptical look, but nodding her agreement nonetheless; Michiru smiled at her again, managing to make it look a bit more genuine this time, then got moving again, quickly walking away from the gate and into the nearest dark side alley, just in case there were patrols in town after all.

To her relief, Haruka stayed behind her, the narrowness of the alley not allowing the blonde to walk by her side; thanks to their positions, she thus could let her feelings show once more, frowning to herself as she quietly moved through the alley, unable to stop wondering how Haruka might react to her powers manifesting even further, if she'd end up scaring her away once she'd discover all the things she was capable of.

 _This was a mistake,_ she thought to herself as she kept walking, her frown deepening, _starting this whole thing with her. She's gonna freak when you discover what you really can do, and leave you, and you'll be stranded alone on this dump of a planet…_

Just as she finished this dire thought, a series of strange noises came from behind her, prompting her to glance over her shoulder; and seconds later, her eyes widened as all she saw was the empty alley behind her, Haruka gone without a trace, as if she never had been there.

With her heart hammering up to her throat all at once, Michiru just opened her mouth to call out for her; before she could though, an all too familiar voice came from behind her and spoke her name, forcing her to turn yet again, her hand automatically dropping to the gun at her hip.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", Steele said, casually leaning against the wall and smirking at her, "unless you fancy the thought of having your brains splattered all over this wall. A sniper almost as good as you is aiming at your head as we speak, and another one has his crosshairs on your heart. You pull that gun out an inch and you're dead, so raise your hands now."

For a second, Michiru considered drawing her gun anyway, confident that she'd be able to have it out and shoot the Commander before the snipers would manage to put a bullet in her; then, she realized that, even if she could pull it off, her chances to not end dead as well were ridiculously small, and she raised her hands, glaring at the other woman when she received an insolent smirk from her.

"Disarm her", Steele then said to someone behind her, and moments later, rough hands removed her gun and rifle; and afterwards, the soldier grabbed her at the forearms and pulled her hands down behind her back, the sniper forcing herself to keep her face perfectly controlled when cold handcuffs closed around her wrists.

Once this had been finished, Michiru had to suffer the indignity of the man patting her down, to make sure she had no more weapons concealed somewhere on her person; to her dismay, he found the knife she carried strapped to her ankle, taking it from her before he let Steele know that she now was unarmed.

"Good", the Commander stated, with another smirk, unimpressed by the glare Michiru levelled her way, completely ignoring the sniper when she demanded to know what had happened to Haruka, nodding at the soldier behind Michiru instead of answering her, the sniper unable to keep herself from flinching when moments later, a hood made of thick, black cloth was pulled over her head, blinding her.

The soldier grasped her arm quite roughly, but this time, she managed to not let any reaction to this show; and as he started dragging her along, Steele spoke up once more, now not bothering to keep the malicious glee out of her voice any longer.

"Sorry that your adventure ends so badly", she stated, Michiru practically hearing the smirk she still was wearing, "but I promise you'll at least get to keep your life. Welcome to Old Haven, Ms Kaioh, I hope you're prepared for a long stay."

She chuckled, a sound which grated on Michiru's nerves, then her footsteps moved away while the soldier roughly shoved her and told her to keep moving, the sniper breathing deeply in an attempt to keep her calm as she tried to figure out where the man was taking her – and what they had done to Haruka, the uncertainty scaring her more than the fate which might await her.


	20. A Display of Power

It didn't really surprise Michiru that the soldier didn't remove the hood after he had taken her to wherever Steele wanted to have her locked up; keeping her in the dark, she figured, was an attempt to make her uncomfortable, so she'd be more willing to talk once the Commander would drop by.

The fact that her hands were still cuffed behind her bothered her more than the hood did, though; the air beneath the thick fabric was hot and stuffy, but at least it didn't hurt, while her shoulders already began to ache and her fingers were starting to feel numb, the sniper asking herself how long Steele would make her wait before she'd join her.

Flexing her fingers, she grimaced at the tingle this caused all the way up to her elbows; the soldier had pushed her down onto a bench of some sort, and she gave her best to sit in the same place, not wanting to end up falling off and hurting herself.

 _You won't have to wait long,_ she told herself as she listened hard for any sign of someone approaching, _they didn't take your pieces of the key yet, and she wants to get her hands on those._

Briefly, she wondered why the Commander hadn't had her soldier take the key pieces, as well – they were in a pouch in her pocket, after all, and he surely had felt that when he had patted her down, but had made no move to take them from her, not even after she had been handcuffed and hooded and couldn't fight back.

Flexing her fingers again, Michiru kept listening, unable to pick up anything else than her own breathing though; after a while, she carefully shifted backwards on her seat, ready to stop the moment the surface beneath her butt would be replaced by nothingness, her breath momentarily hitching when her back hit a wall instead after a few careful movements.

Relaxing as far as the handcuffs allowed it, Michiru leaned against the wall, not letting the cold stone bother her; she focused on keeping her calm as she sat there and waited, rigorously keeping any concern for Haruka at the far back of her mind, telling herself that Steele would want her to cooperate and that this would be reason enough to not harm the blonde.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, waiting for something to happen, when finally, footsteps came up outside; and not long after her ears had picked those up, she heard a door open, followed by Steele's voice, a cold, professional tone now, different to the sardonic one she had used outside in the side alley.

"Miss Kaioh", she stated, her footsteps stopping rather close in front of her, "I see you got comfortable."

Thanks to her years of training, Michiru didn't flinch when Steele reached out and pulled the hood off; a few hairs went along with it, but she didn't move a muscle, even though she had to squint, her eyes not yet used again to the bright light which illuminated the small room she had been taken to.

"Don't try anything", Steele warned her as she bent over her, "I have no desire to kill you, but I won't hesitate if I have to."

Glaring at her, Michiru held back the urge to kick her in the face when the Commander reached into her pocket and removed the pouch holding the key pieces; smirking again now, Steele pocketed it, then crossed her arms over her chest, the cold, hard tone back in her voice when she spoke up again. "Tell me where the third piece is."

"Go to Hell", Michiru replied at once, earning a chuckle from the Commander, an amused twinkle in her eyes as she held her gaze.

"I thought you'd say something like that", she then stated, pulling her gun from the holster with one hand while she grabbed the sniper's arm with the other, jerking her up from the bench quite harshly, Michiru once more refusing to show any reaction at how Steele manhandled her, only gritting her teeth a bit when the Commander pushed her to the door, the tight grip she had on her arm only increasing the pain in her shoulders.

"Remember", Steele said as she opened the door, then forced the sniper through it, into a narrow hallway, "don't try anything."

She didn't bother to wait for Michiru to react in any way, but started marching her down the hallway at once; they took a few turns, making the sniper wonder how big the building she had been taken to was, then they finally stopped in front of yet another door, Steele not opening it yet though, looking at her instead, a hint of malice in her voice when she spoke up.

"It is not surprising that you refuse to talk", she let the sniper know, holstering her gun so she could rest her hand on the doorknob, "and, judging from what I know about you so far, torturing you won't lead anywhere, you wouldn't talk."

She paused for a moment, giving Michiru a chance to reply; the only answer she got was that the sniper looked at her coldly, making her smirk again, a strange glint in her eyes as she went on.

"I know more about you than you might think though", she stated, "so, while I do know that torturing you won't lead anywhere… torturing your girlfriend will."

This time, Michiru couldn't hold the reaction back, her eyes widening; with a cruel smile, Steele turned the knob and pushed the door open, then shoved the sniper into the room behind it, keeping firm hold of her arm, and holding her back with ease when her first reaction was a try to rush into the room.

It was bigger than the one she had been locked up in, despite the pane of glass which had been mounted in the middle of it, going from wall to wall and ceiling to floor; and at the other side of the glass, Haruka stood upright, her wrists chained above her head, water dripping from her hair and clothes, but at least, Michiru told herself, she just was drenched, and had no visible injuries.

"She can't see you", Steele told her, still keeping firm hold of her, "on her side, that glass is mirrored. And she can't hear you, either. Now, I wonder who will talk first, her, once we get started, or you, once you see her suffer?"

"Don't you dare touch her", Michiru pressed out, even though she knew how futile the threat was; and clearly, Steele knew too, letting out a small laugh, then raising her free hand to her collar, touching at tiny black button there and speaking into it, the few words she said making Michiru's blood run cold.

"Ready for the show", the Commander said, presumably speaking to someone on the other side of the glass who hadn't come into view yet, "get started."

Unable to do anything but stand there, Michiru clenched her fists in helpless anger as a man stepped into the room, a long, thin silver metal stick in his hand; thanks to his position right behind her, Haruka couldn't see him yet, but he quickly moved to stand by her side, Michiru realizing with another moment of her blood turning to ice that he was making sure she'd be able to see her lover even once he'd start to torture her.

He said something to the blonde, the glass keeping Michiru from hearing him though; Haruka replied at once, and clearly, whatever she had said didn't please him, a frown briefly wrinkling his brow – before he brought the stick up and pressed it against her side, then moved his thumb on the grip, Michiru crying out "no!" when Haruka started jerking in the chains in response, her head snapping back into her neck, her teeth grit so hard that her jaw muscles were moving visibly beneath the skin.

"Electricity", Steele informed Michiru unnecessarily, "that's why we drenched her first, makes it flow better. Also, it leaves almost no marks, and is much less tiring for our specialist than just beating her up."

She smiled at the sniper, then looked at the other half of the room again, just when the man pulled the stick back; Haruka slumped down as far as the chains let her, and the rapid rising and falling of her chest was enough to tell Michiru that she was in pain, but she refused to talk, her only response when the man spoke to her again being that she spat at him.

As he raised the stick once more, Michiru turned her head, not wanting to see her suffer again; not willing to grant her this though, Steele grabbed her jaw harshly, pushing her gun into her ribcage with her other hand, her voice cold and hard again when she told her to look.

"Look", she repeated when Michiru didn't comply at once, "or I'll have him go on until her heart stops. Look, look at what he does to her, he'll stop once you talk."

She only clenched her fists tighter in response, until she felt her nails bite into her palms; and then, when the man pressed the stick against her lover again and she reacted just as she had before, Michiru felt those strange powers again, stirring deep within her, the way Steele's grip suddenly went slack telling her that she had noticed something, too.

She wasn't sure yet which powers she actually had, but figured that they would be useful either way; the Commander took a step away from her, clearly startled, when the light blue symbols started glowing on her skin, the same glow filling her eyes, strength surging through her, one tug of her arms being enough to rip the chain between her cuffs with an audible metallic clink.

Getting over her surprise quickly, Steele brought the gun up, but before she could fire, Michiru whipped around to look at her, raising her hand; a blast of bright blue energy shot from her palm and hit the Commander in the chest, throwing her backwards until the wall stopped her, a grunt coming from her as she slumped down to the floor, smoke curling up from the blackened spot on her armour where the blast had hit her.

Ignoring her for now, she turned to the glass, bringing her hand up again; another blast of energy flew, and the glass shattered, the torturer's eyes going wide, but before he could show more of a reaction than that, she fired off another ball of energy, and he went flying just like Steele had, landing on the floor in a lifeless heap.

"Holy crap", Haruka murmured, sounding a bit dazed, but at least, Michiru figured, she wasn't out cold; she took another moment to make sure that the torture guy wouldn't get back up and attack her, then moved to where the blonde stood, the symbols still glowing on her arm when she reached up and snapped her chains with ease.

The moment they weren't holding her upright anymore, Haruka stumbled, and quickly, Michiru reacted by grabbing her around the waist, mindful of her enhanced strength; the taller woman clung to her for a few seconds, then mumbled that she was okay, Michiru watching her doubtfully as she let go of her, ready to grab her again the moment it'd look as if she'd need it.

To her relief though, Haruka appeared steady on her feet, even though she looked quite pale; she gave her another concerned look, then remembered Steele and turned to take care of her, only to curse herself for not doing this immediately when she saw that the Commander was gone.

"Steele's gotten away", she stated the obvious, focusing on Haruka again, "we better get out of here quick, before she returns with reinforcements."

Haruka nodded at once, something she regretted immediately though as the world began to spin around her; she wasn't quite sure if that was caused by the torture or by the hit on the head she had taken when the soldiers had grabbed her in the side alley, knocking her out so quickly that she hadn't even been able to alarm Michiru, but she figured that the cause didn't make much of a difference, the result being the same either way – her stomach turned as her knees buckled, and moments later, she was throwing up, feeling Michiru rub her back soothingly.

"I'm good", she forced herself to say once she could be sure the puking was over, forcing herself to come to her feet again, knowing there was no time for weakness now, "we have to get out of here…"

"Yes", Michiru agreed, even though she wished they'd just have a few more minutes for Haruka to recover; since this wasn't an option though, she kept one arm around the taller woman's waist now as they headed for the door together, holding back a smirk when, despite their hurry and her not all too good state, Haruka took a second to kick the groaning torturer on the ground.

After that bit of vengeance had been taken care of, they left the room together, finding themselves in another empty hallway; still keeping her arm around Haruka's waist, Michiru chose to go left at random, hoping that this would lead them to the exit, and that they'd make it out of there without running into too many of Steele's men, the sniper well aware of the fact that her companion was in no state to fight.

 _It's going to be fine,_ she told herself, for the moment skilfully ignoring the fact that not only had they lost the pieces of the key they had found so far, but also their weapons, _you'll get out of this, you'll get new weapons, and it'll be fine._

She tightened her hold on Haruka as she felt the blonde stagger, just for a second, but long enough to let her notice; and once she could be sure that the taller woman was firm on her feet again, she kept moving, all her worries about her quest pushed to the far back of her mind for now, the sniper knowing that for now, all she had to focus on was getting Haruka and herself out of there alive.


	21. A Moment of Peace

To Michiru's relief, they made it out of the building without running into any of Steele's soldiers; it seemed a bit strange to her that the army's base wasn't crawling with men looking for them, but on the other hand, the sniper figured, Steele had what she had wanted from them, and technically had no further reason to hold them captive.

The town itself was surprisingly quiet and empty, as well, but the sniper decided to not question this bit of good luck; thanks to the lack of people out to capture or even kill them, they made it out of Old Haven safely, and soon were back at the cave where they had slept earlier that day, Haruka flopping down to the floor in exhaustion the moment they were safely out of sight.

"Man", she then mumbled, raising her head to look at Michiru as the sniper sorted through the few supplies they had left at the cave, making sure no animals had gotten at them, "just a bit of electricity and I'm all tired out."

It surprised Michiru quite a bit of how easily Haruka made light of what she had gone through; shaking her head, she moved to sit beside her, reaching out with one hand to run it through her hair, making her smile at the tender touch.

"I'm sorry that this happened to you", the sniper told her, finally allowing herself to relax as she decided that they were safe now, "Steele figured out that torturing me wouldn't lead anywhere, so she did it to you instead…"

"Well, it hurt", Haruka admitted, "but you stopped them before it could get too bad. That was quite badass, by the way, I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I until I did it", Michiru let her know, making her smirk again; she smiled back at her, then got up again and moved back to the supplies, finding one of their canteens there, and pushing it into Haruka's hand, telling her to drink, figuring that she'd want to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.

Proving her right, Haruka washed her mouth out first, moving to the cave's exit to spit so there was no danger of any of them ending up sitting in the water; afterwards, she drank deeply, then handed the canteen back to Michiru, half of the water gone, the sniper finishing the rest of it.

"We got out quite easily", she then stated, "but they might be searching for us, so we should stay hidden here for a while. If they do find us here, this place is easier to defend than a camp out in the open would be."

She didn't say her other reason for wanting to lay low for a while out loud, but figured that Haruka knew about it, anyway – after the hit the blonde had taken to the head, it was quite likely that she had at least a mild concussion, and on top of that, she didn't want her moving around again just an hour after she'd been tortured.

"Sounds good", Haruka agreed, making her smile slightly; then, she moved to sit behind her, telling her to hold still and that she wanted to take a look at her head, a small wince coming from the blonde when Michiru carefully ran her fingers through her hair and found the bump fairly quickly.

"Sorry", the sniper murmured, giving her best to be gentle as she parted her hair to get a better look, glad to see that the hit had merely raised a bump and that the skin hadn't split, "but I have to make sure this isn't actually a dangerous head injury. Is your vision alright?"

"Yeah", Haruka let her know, giving her best to sit still, even though it became increasingly harder when Michiru's fingers slid away from the bump and down her neck, trailing the fine hair growing there, "and I'm not nauseous anymore, either. Guy didn't hit that hard."

Her voice hitched at the last few words, something she blamed on the fact that now, Michiru was tracing her spine with her fingertips; even through her vest and shirt, she could feel the warmth of the sniper's touch, and she was quite sure that Michiru had noticed her reaction to what she was doing.

Michiru knew that her sudden urge for intimacy was easily explained, and briefly even wondered if it somehow made her weak; she had read about this, about the need to be close to someone shortly after escaping a life-threatening situation, but until this very moment, she never had experienced it, surprised by the intensity with which the need had hit her.

She wondered if it was the same for Haruka, or if living on Pandora had desensitized her to danger for life and limp; and just then, Haruka turned to look at her, and Michiru could see the lust in her eyes, her heart skipping a beat as the heat in Haruka's gaze only made her own lust grow.

"You know", she murmured, already moving closer to slide her vest down her arms, "I better check to make sure they really didn't hurt you."

She tugged at Haruka's shirt, and obediently, the blonde raised her arms; quickly, Michiru pulled it over her head, carelessly tossing it aside before she moved to straddle her, making her lie down flat on her back with tender pressure.

"Hm", she let out as she ran her hands up the taller woman's sides, smiling at how her breath caught in her throat again at the touch, "I can't see any marks. But I might have to take a closer look."

She bent down, the sensation of her warm breath on Haruka's stomach making the blonde shudder; she took a moment to smile, then began to make her way up to the taller woman's face in form of a trail of tender kisses, leading up her flat stomach and over her chest until she could capture Haruka's mouth with hers.

Eager to touch her, Haruka reached up with one hand, only to have Michiru take tender, but still firm hold of her wrist and push her hand back down; she pulled back from the kiss and smirked at her, a hint of mischief in her voice when she spoke up.

"No, no", she scolded playfully, "no moving. Just lie there. Doctor's orders."

"Didn't know you're a doctor", Haruka gave back, earning another smile from the sniper before she leaned down again and kissed her deeply once, bracing herself against the floor with one hand while the other ran up and down the blonde's side, then found one of her breasts, Haruka's gasp muffled by Michiru's mouth on hers.

It wasn't the first time that the sniper touched her like this, but by now, she was quite sure that it'd never stop sending jolts all through her body; spurred on by her reaction, Michiru pulled back from the kiss, never stopping the caressing of her breasts as her tongue trailed over Haruka's throat, the blonde's hands twitching as she fought the urge to touch Michiru again.

If Michiru had noticed her predicament, it didn't give her reason to stop; she smiled against the taller woman's throat, then moved further down, earning an unarticulated exclamation from Haruka when her lips closed around her nipple.

Still bracing herself against the ground with one hand, she let the other slide down, until her fingers found the button of her lover's pants; skilfully, she opened it, then pulled down the zipper, met with warm wetness when she slid her hand inside.

Teasingly, she moved her fingers just the tiniest bit, just enough to get a reaction; and she got it quickly, Haruka letting out a groan which she silenced with another kiss, the blonde now forgetting what the sniper had told her earlier, entangling one hand in her hair while the other moved around her waist, her hand coming to a tender rest on her back.

Deciding that she wouldn't reprimand her, Michiru kissed her for a bit longer, then pulled back yet again; she took a moment to smile at her, then moved down again, a brief tuck at Haruka's pants sufficient to make her raise her hips, and quickly, Michiru pulled them down along with her boxers, far enough to expose all the areas she wanted access to.

Not wasting any time, Michiru moved down further, then lowered her head; the smallest flicker of her tongue was enough to make Haruka gasp again, and when she intensified her efforts, the blonde soon was groaning and moaning, her fingers tightening in the sniper's hair until she was sure it would hurt any moment.

Clearly, Haruka still was aware of this as well, since her hold loosened again, then her fingers found Michiru's shirt instead, bunching it up in her fist as the smaller woman kept up her efforts; and not long after she had gotten started, Haruka twitched beneath her, the way she groaned out her name as she reached the top of her lust making her feel decidedly hot, as well.

Letting her come down slowly, Michiru didn't stop at once, but gradually lessened the intensity until she finally pulled back; panting, Haruka just laid there for a while, her face quite flushed still when she raised her head at last to look at the sniper.

"That", she then brought out, voice even hoarser than usual, "was amazing."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it", Michiru replied, smiling; not willing to stop touching her yet, she let one hand trail over her upper body, circling the puckered circle of a scar left by a bullet wound here and the uneven, jagged one caused by a knife there, the sniper involuntarily asking herself how often Haruka already had gotten hurt in her life, knowing that the scars her fingers had encountered weren't the only ones on her body.

"Enjoyed it is an understatement", Haruka told her, propping herself up on her elbows so she could look at her properly, "as I said, it was amazing. _You_ are amazing."

"Thank you", Michiru smirked, moving back up for another kiss; and this time, Haruka not only touched her, but slid her hand beneath her shirt, caressing her heated skin, making it her turn to smile when the sniper shuddered visibly at her touch.

"I think", she then rumbled, the sound of her voice sending shivers up and down Michiru's spine, "it is time for some payback."

"Is that so", Michiru inquired, raising an eyebrow; Haruka gave her a smirk in response, then moved to kiss her yet again, simultaneously getting her to lie on her back, somehow managing to do so without breaking the kiss, the fears and the setbacks of the day soon forgotten as all Michiru could focus on anymore was Haruka's kiss and touch.


	22. Back on the Road

The first time she had seen this vast landscape in her dreams, she had been standing knee-deep in water before it had frozen over and had trapped her; this time, she was trapped from the beginning, ice enclosing her legs and keeping her from moving even an inch.

At least, she crazily thought to herself, she wasn't cold, wondering if one could actually feel that in dreams; and that thought brought on the realization that this time, she was aware that she was dreaming, prompting her to ask herself if this knowledge gave her the ability to control and direct the dream.

She tried focusing on the ice, willing it to break; nothing happened though, and just when she realized that even being aware of this being a dream didn't grant her any control, the voice came up again, surrounding her from all sides, speaking with great urgency.

 _You suffered a setback,_ it told her, not letting her know anything new, _but do not let this stop you. You must reach the vault._

Just like the first time the voice had spoken to her in her dreams, it grew louder and louder as it repeated the final sentence over and over; and soon, it was so loud that she would have fallen to her knees, had she been able to, but as it was, all she could do was press her hands against her ears, screaming a scream she couldn't hear as the voice grew louder and louder, impossibly hurt, until she was sure it would tear her mind apart…

Again, Michiru didn't scream as she woke up, her eyes snapping open in the darkness of the cave; they had made their escape from Old Haven during the night, and it still was dark out, the sniper thus figuring that she hadn't been asleep for long when the dream had torn her out of her slumber.

Almost automatically, she reached over, her racing heart slowing down when her hand found Haruka's arm; the blonde was still sleeping soundly, Michiru once more having suffered through her dreams without waking her, any noises she might have made not loud enough to disturb Haruka's sleep.

Clearly, unlike her, Haruka had quite the deep slumber, since Michiru's touch didn't wake her, either; suddenly in need of being close to her, the sniper shifted on the rather uncomfortable stone floor until she could rest her head on Haruka's shoulder, the blonde letting out a somewhat funny sounding grunt in response, but, to her relief, still not waking up.

Closing her eyes, Michiru tried to go back to sleep, finding herself unable to drift off again though; again and again, she replayed what the voice had said to her in the dream this time, wondering whom the voice actually belonged to and why the owner of it still wanted her to go to the vault – with the pieces of the key lost to the Crimson Lance, even if Haruka and she would find the vault first, they'd have no way to open it.

Holding back a sigh, she focused on Haruka's heartbeat, hoping that the steady _thump thump thump_ would lull her back to sleep; the noise turned out to be just as soothing as she had hoped, and not long after, she was fast asleep again, slumbering through the rest of the night without any more strange dreams disturbing her, until the next morning dawned.

* * *

When Michiru woke again hours later, this time due to sunlight shining in her face and not because of bad dreams, she felt relaxed and well rested, despite the time she had spent awake in the middle of the night; part of this, she was sure, was due to the fact that she had moved even closer to Haruka in her sleep, now lying halfway on top of her, one of the blonde's arms loosely around her, her chest rising and falling slowly as she slept peacefully.

Not wanting to wake her up just yet, Michiru remained in her embrace a bit longer, focused on the her long, calm breaths and her heartbeat; then, with a heavy heart, she finally disentangled herself from the one-armed hug and gently touched the blonde's shoulder, along with saying her name, actions she had to repeat a few times until they had an effect, Haruka letting out a somewhat unhappy grunt as she opened her eyes.

"Sorry for waking you", Michiru apologized, smiling as she moved one hand to caress her hair, "but we should use as much daylight as possible, we need to find weapons again and perhaps come up with a plan to get back the pieces of the key."

"Weapons will be easier than getting back the key", Haruka sighed, making her grimace as she had to nod her agreement, "as far as I know, there's a guy living not far from town, and he sells weapons, we should get something there. As for the key though… Well, I'm not good with planning."

"I usually am", Michiru let her know, "but I've never had to plan for going up against an entire army, with just another person to help."

Distraught, she picked up a random pebble from the ground and started toying with it; picking up on her dismay, Haruka scooted a bit closer to her and started rubbing her back, making her smile weakly at her in response – before she allowed herself to give in and leaned into the touch, a small sigh escaping her as she enjoyed the warmth of the taller woman's hand on her back.

"Well, no use in sitting here moping, is there", she then decided to pull herself together, sitting up a bit straighter as if to underline her decision with her body language, "so we better get moving. We need some weapons and fresh supplies, quickly."

It bothered her a bit that they had to set out on an empty stomach, but at least, she told herself, they still had the bike; they still had a few supplies left, but not much, and both knew that they had to ration what they still had, until they'd acquire more.

"Hop on", Haruka smirked, her mood apparently not influenced in a negative way by the lack of breakfast; mindful of her injured arm, Michiru got onto the bike behind her, wrapping both arms around her waist, making sure to keep a slightly tighter hold with her good arm though, not wanting the stitches to open up again.

It was quite fortunate, she thought to herself as Haruka started driving, that the rough way Steele and her soldiers had pushed her around hadn't caused just that; on the other hand though, she still had no idea about the true extent of her Siren powers, and thus couldn't know if perhaps, said powers had helped with healing her wounds.

 _Well, you did heal Haruka,_ she them reminded herself, carefully flexing the muscle in her forearm in an attempt to find out if the wounds were healing faster than normal without removing the bandage, mildly surprised when it barely hurt, _who knows what your powers did when you went on your little rampage back in that building._

She made a mental note to check the injury as soon as they would interrupt their journey; even if it hadn't gotten better, she figured that it couldn't hurt to change the bandage, only to grimace as she realized that they had no medical supplies left, hoping that they'd find the man Haruka had mentioned quickly and that he'd not only sell them weapons, but other necessities, as well.

Straightening up behind the blonde, she glanced around, making sure that no unpleasant surprised were waiting for them; this had been one of the advantages of the gunner seat, she realized – she'd had a much better vantage point, and had been able to see approaching threats easily, while on the bike, she could be closer to Haruka, but only saw the back of her neck and head when she looked straight ahead.

Giving her best to not shift around too much, Michiru made sure to keep scanning the area surrounding them; the roar of the bike's engine made it quite difficult to hear anything else, but she figured that she'd be able to pick up another engine, should it approach them.

With nothing else to do than hold on to Haruka and look around, her mind started wandering again, and she thought back to the powers she had displayed back at the Crimson Lance building; now that she had time to think about it, the enhanced strength she had shown frightened her a bit, goosebumps forming on her arms as she thought back to how easily she had torn the chain between the cuffs binding her.

The balls of energy she had thrown around had been quite the sight, as well; Michiru couldn't help herself, but had to wonder where this energy had come from, if she had conjured it up out of nowhere or if it, in some weird way she didn't understand, was using her very life force to manifest, frowning to herself at the thought that her own powers might weaken and perhaps eventually even kill her, without her even realizing.

 _I wish I knew more about this,_ she thought to herself, while Haruka kept her focus on driving, noticing nothing of her ponderings, _and how to make proper use of it, so far, these powers only showed themselves when Haruka was in danger._

It was a bit of a calming thought that she had a reservoir of enhanced strength and other powers to protect her lover, but she much would have preferred to be able to use her powers without the blonde in danger; after all, she thought to herself somewhat sardonically, she couldn't put Haruka in peril each time she needed to access her powers.

 _Well, even if you can't figure it out, it'll be fine,_ she told herself, looking around once more just to be on the safe side, _you've been doing this for a while now, without any mysterious powers._

Losing their weapons and the pieces of the key had been quite the setback, Michiru knew, but she wasn't willing to let this stop her; that she had lost the gun she'd carried in the holster on her hip wasn't that bad, but it vexed her quite a bit that her sniper rifle was gone, a rifle which had been customized to her needs, and which had laid in her hands perfectly.

She was quite sure that she wouldn't be able to get one as good from the man Haruka had mentioned; he might have a rifle he'd be willing to sell her, but it wouldn't have the specifics she'd wanted back then when she'd ordered the one she had lost to Steele, and she doubted that the guy would be able to customize the gun to her liking.

She held back a sigh, not wanting Haruka to notice anything of her ponderings and get distracted; they were on a road now, but it was uneven and not very well made, making their ride a rather rough one, the sniper figuring that the blonde needed quite a bit of focus to keep the bike from falling.

 _At least you're not in this alone,_ she thought to herself as she allowed herself a moment of lowering her guard, resting her head on Haruka's back; in response, the blonde briefly touched her clasped hands, making her smile slightly, then the taller woman moved her hand back to the bike's handle and focused on driving again, Michiru letting her mind wander again while her companion drove, confident that, despite their setbacks, everything would work out in the end.


	23. Goin' To The Junkyard

Michiru had been expecting a lot of things when Haruka had told her that she knew of some man selling weapons in the general area of the Trash Coast; what she hadn't expected though was to end up on what only could be described as a junkyard, her scepticism clearly showing on her face when Haruka stopped the bike at the rusted gate and told her that they had arrived.

"Haruka", she voiced her doubts, looking at all the discarded stuff she could see past the rather sturdy fence, "this is a junkyard."

"Yup", Haruka agreed at once, earning a raised eyebrow from the sniper, "but don't let that fool you, the guy who lives here is a bit kooky, but one of the best weapon smiths on the planet. People bring him the weapons they don't need anymore and he repairs and improves them and sells them."

"Well, worth a look, I suppose", Michiru had to admit with a small sigh, eying the gate and the junk she could see left and right of it again, "and it's not like we have much of a choice, we do need weapons."

"He might surprise you", Haruka let her know, not managed to take her scepticism away; still not quite sure that this was a good idea, Michiru watched how the blonde moved over to the gate, only to flinch when the taller woman banged her fist against it several times and yelled to the man apparently living in the junkyard. "Hey, Earl! Open up, customers!"

For a while, nothing happened, making Michiru wonder if someone was actually there; then, a loud crunching broke the silence, and the gate slowly swung open, allowing them to enter the junkyard, Haruka taking the lead this time, the sniper close behind her, her hand automatically dropping to her hip, only to remind her of the fact that the weapon she had carried there for so long was gone.

"Enter", a scratchy voice Michiru immediately associated with "old man" came from somewhere within the mountains of junk; again, she wished for a weapon as Haruka led the way, manoeuvring through the mountains of junk with a certainty which told the sniper that it wasn't her first visit.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination, a small hut Michiru at the first glance almost didn't recognize at one, as it had been built from junk and blended into the surroundings; a tiny window was pushed open in the heavy steel door, and angry eyes glared at them, the same scratchy old-man-voice which had asked them to enter demanding to know what they wanted.

"We need weapons", Haruka replied, Michiru noticing that she kept a safe distance to the tiny window, making her wonder how sane this man exactly was, "and any other supplies you might sell, food, canteens for water and medical supplies."

"Do I look like a doctor to you", Earl screeched in reply, the unpleasant sound of his voice forcing Michiru to hold back a grimace, "you can look at guns but that's it! What do you need!"

"A machine gun for me", Haruka replied, "a sniper rifle, if you have one, for my companion here, and a pistol for her, too."

"Wait there", Earl gruffly gave back, then his face vanished from the tiny window; they heard him move around in his tiny shelter, a few clanks and bangs coming from it – before a hatch at the bottom of the door was flung open and he pushed out an assortment of weapons, telling them in his scratchy voice to take their pick.

Haruka quickly found a machine gun she liked, pointing it out to the elder man; Michiru took her time, weighing each of the three sniper rifles he had presented her with, testing the scope and picking random targets on the junkyard to get a feel for how they fired, if they shot straight and how strong the recoil was.

None of the rifles had the high quality she was used to, but at least one of them appeared to be made well enough to be acceptable; and to her relief, she found a handgun, as well, letting Earl know that she wanted to purchase both of those and a supply of ammo.

"You got cash?" he demanded to know in reply, "I can tell that you're from some fancy planet, you don't talk like the Pandorians, but I don't take no cards or other rich people crap. Cash or get the Hell off my junkyard."

It was fortunate, Michiru thought to herself, that neither Steele, nor her soldiers had bothered to search her for anything else than weapons and the vault key pieces; thanks to that oversight or lack of care, she still had money, reassuring Earl with cold politeness that she could pay, and demanding to know how much he wanted for the whole lot.

"Seven hundred and fifty for the three guns", he replied at once, "and twenty-five for each box of ammo."

Michiru knew that he was asking for much more than the guns were actually worth, but also was aware that they didn't have much of a choice – already for armed people, Pandora was dangerous, and travelling without any weapons was akin to suicide.

"Deal", she thus said, not bothering to haggle; if her immediate agreement surprised Earl, he didn't let it show through his voice, but simply told her to put the money on the flat board he had used to display the guns, the sniper counting out the amount and adding enough for three boxes of ammo for each gun.

The board was yanked back into the little house so harshly that Michiru almost expected the money to fly off, but thankfully, it made it inside safely; and then, a minute later, the board was pushed back on, the ammo now on it, accompanied by Earl gruffly telling them to get lost now.

"Guess we have to find food and medical supplies somewhere else", Haruka dryly commented while Michiru collected the boxes of ammo, then handed her those for her new machine gun; smirking, the sniper nodded, her relief to have weapons again too big to let her worry much about the lack of other supplies.

The handgun was a big too small to fit into the holster just right, but Michiru figured that it would do; having the gun on her hip already felt good, but strapping the sniper rifle to her back was even better, making her realize how strangely incomplete she had felt without any weapons.

Judging from the happy look on Haruka's face, she felt pretty much the same; just like Michiru's handgun, her machine gun didn't fit into her holster quite correctly, but she was bothered by this even less than the sniper, figuring that it didn't matter for as long as she could get it out quickly whenever it was needed.

"So", she said out loud, while she tucked the boxes of ammo into her pockets, "now that we got weapons again, we should look for someone to sell us some supplies and then try to get our stuff back from the Crimson Lance?"

"You wanna get killed, you do that", Earl found it necessary to add his opinion, clearly not caring that now, they knew he was eavesdropping, "what the Hell did the Lance take from you that you wanna take them on? Your favourite puppy? I got a skag when he was a little puppy, his name's Skrappy, he's my best friend!"

Not quite sure how to reply to this, Michiru raised an eyebrow at Haruka; the blonde just shrugged in reply, then raised her voice so Earl would hear, giving him an answer she knew wouldn't satisfy him, but not really caring, not after they had gotten what they had wanted from him.

"None of your business", she let him know, her snippy tone forcing Michiru to hold back a smirk, "and, since you can't sell us food or medical supplies, our business is done here. Have a good day."

"You a vault hunter, aren't you", Earl demanded to know in response, completely ignoring what Haruka had said, "maybe I can help you. You lookin for the key pieces? That what the Crimson Lance took from you?"

"What do you know about the vault", Michiru was the one to answer this time, raising an eyebrow even though he hadn't bothered to open the little window again and thus probably couldn't see her, "I'll pay you for any useful information you might give us."

"I've seen one of them key piece thingies", Earl told her, "around the neck of a bandit boss, they have their camp not far from here and buy ammo from me. Says it's a good luck charm, I don't think he knows what it really is."

"Where is this bandit camp?" the sniper inquired, hearing a low chuckle from the man, his voice smug when he responded, telling her he wouldn't say another word until they'd paid him for the information.

"Three-hundred should do", he added, "or, you know, with you being so pretty, maybe if you're… a bit nice to me, I'll tell you for free."

At this, Michiru raised an eyebrow, not even willing to dignify this with an answer; apparently, Haruka had other ideas though, surprising the sniper with the low growl she let out – before she marched over to the door, removing her machine gun from the holster as she did so, a startled a cry coming from Earl when she used it moments later to blast out the lock, then kicked the door open, several cries of protest coming from the man when she grabbed his collar next and pulled him out of his little house quite roughly.

"No, no, stop!" he cried, quite the pathetic figure, Michiru thought to herself, a scrawny old man with a few wisps of hair on his head and dirt on his wrinkled clothes, "I wasn't serious, I was kidding! Skrappy defend me!"

Once more glad that she had a gun again, Michiru let her hand drop onto it, ready to draw and shoot the moment the skag Earl had mentioned would show itself; nothing happened though, and after a few moments, Haruka decided that the alleged pet skag of the man was no threat and shook Earl a bit, just to get her point across.

"I see you have a few teeth left", she then snarled, her sudden anger just as surprising to the sniper as her initial rather violent reaction; she had to admit though that she enjoyed this sudden display of possessiveness, feeling a familiar tingle in certain areas of her body when the blonde kept talking, "so if you don't want me to knock them out, you will first apologize and then tell us where that camp is, and who that leader is."

"Okay, okay!" Earl cried, making Michiru wonder how he could do business with bandits if he apparently was that scared of violence, "I'm sorry, okay? Don't let her hit me, jeez!"

"Accepted", Michiru replied, before Haruka really could get the idea to start knocking out teeth; in response, the blonde shook the frightened man once more, and he hurriedly continued, eager for her to calm down.

"North of here", he let her know, looking at the sniper pleadingly, as if hoping that she would speak up on his behalf, "he's called Big Boris, he's freakin huge, okay, he'll rip you apart with his bare hands."

"I doubt he'll get close enough", Michiru smiled, gesturing at her new sniper rifle, "but thank you for the warning. Haruka, I think you can let go of him now."

Haruka grumbled, but did as the sniper had suggested; Earl slumped down in response, wiping sweat off his brow, sounding insecure when he asked them if they would leave him alone now, far from the smug tone he had used before, unable to hide his relief when Michiru nodded.

"Thanks for your help", she then sweetly said, focusing on the blonde afterwards, "shall we, Haruka?"

"Yeah", Haruka gruffly gave back, with another baleful glare at Earl; he gulped visibly, then scurried back into his house the moment the taller woman had turned her back on him, grumbling under his breath about the ruined door, not daring to address the issue directly with the two women though.

"North, he said", Michiru mused the moment he had pulled the door close and they could hear him rummage around inside, probably in an attempt to block the now unlockable door, "but he didn't say how far. Good thing we still have the bike though, do you know if there's any other trader around where we can get food?"

"Unfortunately not", Haruka sighed, then brightened up, her anger at Earl apparently forgotten, "but if we go to kick bandit ass, they will have some stuff we can salvage."

"Good point", Michiru nodded, remembering the supplies they had gotten from other abandoned camps; gesturing vaguely at the junkyard's exit, she asked if they should get moving, then, Haruka nodding at once, the sniper making sure that they had moved far away enough from the little house that Earl couldn't hear them anymore before she spoke up again.

"You know", she murmured, stopping her walk and turning to face Haruka, placing one hand on her chest, so that she could feel her heartbeat, "it was quite… exciting how possessive and angry you got at the outlandish suggestion this man dared to make. I think that is the first time in my life someone defended me like this."

"The people you've been hanging out with are jerks, then", Haruka replied at once, making her smile again, "cause no one talks to my girl that way, and gets away with it."

At hearing Haruka call her "my girl", a strange mixture of emotions flooded the sniper; a pleasant tingle ran down her spine while her heart clenched up, as she simultaneously was touched by the ease with which Haruka had practically claimed her as hers, and had been reminded that she wouldn't stay on Pandora forever, the thought of leaving Haruka behind once they'd found the vault paining her more each time she allowed it to surface.

Again, Haruka didn't let it show if she had similar thoughts, but just kept holding her gaze, with warmth and affection in her eyes; and after a moment, Michiru decided to forget about the future for now and focus on the moment, pulling the taller woman down for a tender kiss, focusing on how good kissing Haruka made her feel instead of on what the future might hold for them, even though she could never push the thoughts out of her mind completely.


	24. Third Piece

Even though they both were hungry by now, neither Haruka, nor Michiru were willing to waste any time on finding someone to sell them food; they only stopped at a water hole to drink and refill their canteens, then were on their way again to the camp Earl had told them about, both of them eager to get the piece of the key the bandit leader there owned, before the Crimson Lance might get there first and take that from them, as well.

Michiru still had no idea how to get the pieces Steele had taken from her back, fully aware of how much more manpower the Crimson Lance had, compared to the two of them; she was good with her rifle, but she hadn't had a chance yet to test the one she had gotten from Earl, and had no idea if she'd be as good with it as with the one she'd had custom made, these thoughts only strengthening her resolve to not only get the key pieces back, but the weapons the Lance had taken from them, as well.

"Look", Haruka called out to her, distracting her from these ponderings, and briefly making her uneasy by letting go of the bike's handle with one hand to gesture at something on the road, Michiru holding on a bit tighter to her in response while she craned her neck to see what the blonde tried to show her, "tire tracks. Quite sure that those were caused by bandit cars."

"Hopefully those", Michiru gave back, raising her voice as well to be heard over the roar of the engine, "and not the Crimson Lance. We should have asked Earl if they shop at his junkyard, too, and if he told them anything, I think you had him frightened enough, he would have told us."

"I guess so", Haruka agreed, sounding amused, even though she secretly was glad that the sniper hadn't been irritated or annoyed by her rather harsh reaction, "but I guess we'll find out sooner or later anyway."

Michiru let out an agreeing noise, then both fell silent again as Haruka concentrated on driving; and not long after, a dark column of smoke appeared on the horizon, making Michiru frown as it appeared too thick for a simple campfire, making her wonder if the bandits just had one big bonfire or if the smoke was caused by something else.

Clearly, Haruka had similar thoughts, pointing out that no bandits she knew only ever made one fire; and a short while later, the reason for the column of smoke became apparent, in form of a vehicle parked in the middle of the road, two men in crimson armour standing next to it and arguing, stopping though at the approaching bike.

Their armour and the crimson paint job of their car was all the indicator Michiru needed, and she reacted at once, acting without hesitating even a second, ignoring the knowledge about how dangerous the immediate plan of action which had jumped into her mind at the sight of the soldiers.

Without missing a beat, she held on to Haruka with one hand, pulling her revolver out of the holster while she planted both feet firmly on the footrests, Haruka, to her credit, not slowing down the slightest, not even when Michiru stood up behind her, the men reaching for the weapons, but both the blonde and the sniper knowing they would be too slow.

It took Michiru just the fraction of a second to include the movement of the bike into figuring out the aim for the perfect shots; and then, she pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, and both men fell, one of them dead from a headshot while the other bullet hadn't hit quite as perfectly, having caught the other man in the throat, his body convulsing as he fell to the dusty road.

The moment the men had gone down, Michiru lowered herself onto the seat again, and Haruka slowed down the bike the second her behinds were back on the leather; she stopped the bike right next to the car, and Michiru ended the injured soldier's suffering quickly, putting a bullet in his head a second after her feet had touched the ground.

"Next time you plan something like that, warn me", Haruka admonished while she knelt down next to one of the men and began searching him, Michiru doing the same with the other, "for a moment, I thought you were falling off!"

"And you didn't slow down?" Michiru wanted to know, raising an eyebrow at her, briefly stopping her search for weapons and ammunition, "should I be offended now?"

"I thought about it", the blonde defended herself, "but then I figured out what you were doing. Impressive shooting, by the way, I don't think anyone else I know could have pulled this off, and with such accuracy, too."

"Good thing I didn't have much time to think about it", the sniper told her, finding a few boxes of ammunition in the pockets sewn to the dead soldier's belt and pocketing them, "or I would have lost my nerve. I don't ever did something as dangerous as this before."

As she spoke, she found a sharp, serrated knife strapped to the soldier's calf and immediately liberated it along with the strap, replacing the knife Steele had taken from her; the other guy had a knife, as well, Haruka claiming it as hers, nodding when Michiru asked if she had found anything else which might be useful.

"More ammunition", she let the sniper know, handing the boxes to her, "sadly, only for your gun though, none for mine."

"Well, we got quite a bit from Earl, even though we overpaid for it", Michiru pointed out, "and if we're lucky, the bandits will yield some, too…"

She trailed off as she took a closer look at Haruka, then at the men she had killed; and as she studied them, realized that one was smaller than the other, an idea started to form in her mind, a slight smile curling her lips as she looked up at the blonde again.

"Say", she then stated, straightening up and gesturing at the car, "think you can fix this? I have an idea."

"Not sure", Haruka gave back, eying the car, "I can take a look at it, if we're lucky, they have some tools…"

As she spoke, she went to the trunk already, and opened it with ease; and to her delight, she found a toolbox in there, smirking as she pulled it out and moved to the engine hood, opening it and grimacing at the cloud of smoke which greeted her.

"This might take a while", she then told the sniper, raising an eyebrow when Michiru just shrugged in response – before the smaller woman knelt down next to the taller soldier and began removing his armour, Haruka watching her for a few more moments before she focused on the smoking engine, smirking to herself as she realized what Michiru had in mind.

* * *

Big Boris always had prided himself on his lack of fear of anything; he liked to boast that not only his body was big, but his courage, too, and that there was nothing which scared him, that he had never backed down from a fight.

Now though, he was scared, perhaps for the first time in his life; and he flinched when another shot echoed and another of his men fell, killed by a perfectly placed headshot, just like the dozen before.

"This can stop right now", a hoarse voice called out to him, after the body had thumped down to the ground, "just hand over your little trinket!"

"No!" he yelled back, making sure that all of him was hidden behind the cover he had found, something which, thanks to his bulk, wasn't all too easy, "it is my good luck charm, I'm not handing it over!"

"Not much luck right now, boss!" one of his bandits yelled, yelping surprisingly high-pitched when, as if in response, a bullet hit the ground right in front of his feet, "they're picking us off one by one!"

"And that wasn't a miss", the hoarse voice added, "the next one is gonna hit you if your boss doesn't hand that over!"

"They're gonna kill us all!" another bandit yelped, "dammit, boss, give them the damn thing!"

"No!" Big Boris protested again; and in response, another shot echoed through their camp, and another body hit the ground, the bandits who hadn't been shot this time yelling in fear and dismay.

"Get the trinket!" one of them then suddenly cried out, "if we give it to them, they'll stop!"

"What!" Big Boris squawked, startled, not having expected this development at all – until this very moment, all his men had looked to him with a mixture of fear and admiration, and none of them ever had questioned him or had refused to carry out an order, "this is mutiny, how dare you!"

"It's just a stupid trinket!" one of his men yelled back, Haruka snickering to herself in their hiding place while next to her, Michiru already had the next bandit in her sights, ready to shoot him the second it'd seem as if they needed more convincing to turn on their leader, "you'd let them kill us all just for that?! Hand it over or we'll take it from you!"

"Find them, you idiots", Boris yelled in response, fighting the urge to raise his head from behind the cover to glare at them, "can't you figure out where they are?!"

"No!" one of his men gave back at once, making him grumble; and then, he heard movement, quick footsteps approaching his hideout, his eyes going wide when three of his men stepped in front of him, all of them having their weapons drawn and aimed at him.

"Hand it over", one of them ordered, "or we'll shoot you! This little stupid thing is all they want, so give it to them!"

"If they want it, it must be valuable", Big Boris argued back, not willing to hand over his lucky charm – he had no idea what it was, but if people as skilled with guns as whoever was picking them off were after it, it had to be something special, "do you want to give it up without knowing what it is?!"

"Yes!" a chorus of voices replied, along with the three men in front of him; he grumbled, but had to realize that he was outnumbered – even if he did manage to take down the three in front of him, the others would overwhelm him with ease, and he doubted that the unseen sniper would accidentally help him in any way by picking off more of his men while they attacked him.

"Fine!" he finally cried, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation, "have it, then! But don't go blaming me if every raid we try goes wrong from now on, and they will, if I don't have my lucky charm anymore!"

"Oh shut up", one of the three men in front of him grumbled, holding out his hand; with a grumble of his own, Big Boris undid the necklace and handed it to the man, watching with a heavy heart how he raised it up into the air afterwards, so that the still well-hidden assailants could see it.

"We got it", he added, raising his voice to make sure he'd be heard, "I'll bring it to you if you promise you won't kill me!"

"Drop all your weapons", a new voice called out in reply, to the surprise of the bandits easily identified as female, "and bring it to the waterhole south from here. We will meet you there. Come alone!"

"Okay!" he yelled back, carefully pocketing the trinket, not wanting to lose it on the way; and while he got moving, Haruka and Michiru did the same, hurrying away from the hideout Michiru had chosen as her sniper's nest for the assault, both of them satisfied with how well their impromptu plan to get the third piece from the bandit leader had worked out.


	25. Takes One To Know One

If the bandit had been somewhat surprised to find himself faced with two people wearing the armour of the Crimson Lance when he met them at the waterhole, he didn't let it show; he just looked at them fearfully, the helmets keeping their faces from view, neither of them saying anything when he approached them, the smaller only acknowledging him by holding out one hand for the trinket.

"You're not gonna kill me, are you", he fearfully asked, unable to hide his relief when the taller one shook their head in response; he handed the trinket over, then nervously wiped his hands on his pants, looking awkward, clearly having no idea if anything else was expected of him.

"Just go", the taller one told him, and he was quite sure that an eyeroll accompanied those words, even though he couldn't see the person's face; he cleared his throat, then turned and marched off, his stiff back telling them both that he was expecting them to shoot him now.

Instead of getting out her gun and doing just that, Michiru pocketed the piece of the key, waiting until the bandit was out of sight before she removed the helmet, not looking forward to putting it on again, not much fancying the weight of the thing, but knowing that she'd have to put it back on soon enough.

"Well, that worked like a charm", she stated, while Haruka pulled her helmet off, as well, Michiru involuntarily smiling at how wearing it had flattened her normally tousled, somewhat scruffy hair, "to be honest, I wasn't quite sure it would when you suggested it, but apparently, you were right about how loyal these men are to their boss once someone starts picking them off one by one."

"They're loyal as long as they think it's useful for them", Haruka shrugged in response, clearly not offended by Michiru's doubts in her plan, "at least, that's how it goes with regular bandits, and I doubted those of Big Boris would be any different."

"Good thing I have someone along who knows about the psychology of bandits", Michiru smiled, briefly fighting the urge to hug her, telling herself that it wouldn't do much good in the bulky armour they both were wearing; she still stepped closer to kiss her briefly though, then gestured at the crimson vehicle Haruka had fixed, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she went on.

"So", she stated, "now that your plan worked out so fine, ready to try mine?"

"Yes", the blonde replied at once, not really surprising her – she had looked a bit sceptical when she had outlined her plan, rough as it was, but she trusted her, and thus figured that it would be okay, even if it'd be quite risky.

Smiling again, Michiru replied by making her way to the passenger side of the car and getting into it; Haruka took the driver seat, handing her helmet to Michiru before she started the engine, telling herself that the way her plan had worked out was a good omen and that surely, Michiru's plan would work just as fine, as well.

* * *

Unlike when they had escaped from Old Haven after their capture there, they did run into soldiers this time, two of them, positioned at the town's main entrance; they took one look at the vehicle and the two passengers within and waved them through at once, making them both wonder if nobody else ever had had this idea before.

"Apparently not", Michiru murmured after Haruka had been the one to voice that thought, keeping her voice low just in case, "or they are simply careless. Either way, good for us."

Nodding her agreement, Haruka kept her gaze on the road as she drove, Michiru directing her back to the building where they had been held captive; they both were sure that this was the Lance's headquarters in this town, and figured that, if Steele was in town and hadn't left to search for the third piece, they'd have the best chance to find her there.

It didn't take them long to reach the building, Haruka parking the car right in front of it; they both put on the helmets, figuring that, while it might look suspicious, it would be downright suicidal to walk around with their faces exposed, then got out of the vehicle, approaching the building with fast, secure steps, knowing that acting as if they belonged there would make them much less noticeable.

Apparently, it worked with the man standing guard at the front door; he only reacted to them with a brief nod of his head, a gesture Michiru and Haruka both returned as they entered, the sniper quietly wondering to herself who the men she had killed for the car and their armours had been – if they had been some sort of team sent out by Steele to do God knew what, and the guard didn't know them well enough to realize it wasn't them coming back.

Shrugging it off, she took the lead, even though she wasn't quite sure where they had to go; she hadn't seen much of the building when she had been held captive, and it was quite big, but she figured that sooner or later, they'd find out where Steele was, if necessary by dragging one of her men into a secluded room and questioning him.

Footsteps came up ahead, and she took in a deep breath, telling herself that she'd have to act quickly the moment whoever was approaching them would appear as if they suspected something; it was another soldier, she learned seconds later as the armoured man rounded the corner, briefly making her feel relieved with the fact that he, too, was wearing a helmet, something apparently not all too uncommon for the Crimson Lance even when they were inside their very own headquarter.

 _Good for us,_ she thought to herself, _or this would go very wrong very fast_

The man's footsteps faded away as he kept walking, and she let out the breath she hadn't even noticed she had been holding; behind her, Haruka relaxed a bit, as well, keeping her guard up though, not wanting to end up in the hands of the Crimson Lance again, the torture she had gone through in this very building still fresh on her mind.

Idly, she wondered if the man who had tortured her was somewhere in this building while she followed Michiru through the corridors; she made a mental note to put a bullet in his head, should they run into him, then realized that it would be a bad idea – nobody seemed to suspect them of not being actual Crimson Lance members so far, but gunshots surely would be noticed, and a whole bunch of soldiers would come running.

She nearly bumped into Michiru as the smaller woman stopped walking without warning in front of her; quickly, before Haruka had the chance to ask what was going on, Michiru raised a hand to silence her, then, in one fluid motion, turned, took hold of her arm and pulled her into the next room, pulling the door shut just as Haruka heard footsteps approach them, the people talking quietly to each other, her heart skipping a beat when she recognized one of the voices as Steele's.

"Aren't we lucky", Michiru whispered once the footsteps had passed the door and were fading away, "now we just have to follow her and try to catch her alone."

Nodding, Haruka tried to remain as calm as Michiru appeared to be while the sniper pushed the door open again, just in time to see Steele and the two soldiers she was with round a corner up ahead; hurriedly, she stepped outside, giving her best to move soundlessly though as she walked after them, the blonde doing the same, a task which wasn't exactly made easier by the bulky armour they both were wearing.

To her relief though, they apparently did well enough to avoid Steele noticing them; they heard her give commands to the two men, then they parted ways, Michiru making sure to keep some distance between the Commander and her as they kept following her through the building, her heart speeding up when she realized that any moment now, they'd have the chance to get the key pieces back.

Briefly, she hoped that Steele had them with her and hadn't hidden them away in a safe somewhere; then, the Commander entered one of the rooms lining the hallway, closing the door behind herself, Michiru still making sure to be quiet as she snuck up to it, then pressed her ear against it, trying to figure out if Steele was alone while Haruka waited close behind her, her hand already on the machine gun, ready to pull it out any second.

Having convinced herself that Steele was alone, Michiru turned to look at Haruka, with the intention to tell her that they had to hit now if they wanted to have any success; and just when she opened her mouth, the door was blasted outside and slammed into her, hard enough to knock her back against the opposite wall, her head harshly colliding with the wall, only the helmet protecting her from her skull splitting open, stars exploding in front of her eyes.

It just took Haruka a second to pull the machine gun from the holster, a precious moment during which Steele, smirking confidently, stepped out into the hallway; the blonde's finger began to squeeze the trigger, the machine gun spitting bullets seconds later, Steele bringing up one hand in the same instant, Haruka's eyes going wide when the bullets stopped inches from the Commander's armoured body and hung harmlessly in the air, like some sort of bizarre fruit ready for harvest.

"I'm surprised you came back", Steele addressed Michiru, apparently having decided that Haruka wasn't a threat, while the sniper was struggling to stay on her feet, the world blurring in front of her eyes, "and with armour of my army, too. Quite clever, I have to say, but you forgot one rather important detail."

She smiled, her focus still on Michiru; later, Haruka would wonder why she had been disregarded so completely, but then would decide that it had been a good thing, indeed, the way Steele was keeping her eyes on the sniper making it possible for her to slowly reach for the knife the Crimson Lance soldier had been carrying when Michiru had killed him.

"You see", Steele was still talking, unaware of what the blonde was doing a few steps away from her, "I knew that you are here the moment you entered the town. You might not be aware of this yet, with your powers just active for such a short while, but once a Siren lives long enough… Well, we can always detect others like us whenever they are near."

This casual revelation boggled Haruka's mind, but she didn't let that stop her; she took another moment to make sure Steele's focus was completely on Michiru – before she, with a hoarse cry, launched herself forward, the knife finding a gap the armour between the torso and the hip plates with deadly precision, a shout which was both surprise and pain coming from Steele when the blade dug into her flesh.

She fought to stay on her feet, but thanks to her momentum, the height difference and the added weight of the bulky armour, Haruka managed to throw her over after a bit of grappling; they crashed to the floor, then started rolling this way and that as they fought, Steele simultaneously trying to keep the knife from stabbing her again and to get it out of Haruka's grasp.

The sight of Haruka fighting the Commander helped Michiru to regain her senses at last, and even though she still felt a bit dazed, she forced herself to get moving, pulling the handgun from the holster as she did so; she took aim, but the way Haruka and Steele kept changing positons as they rolled over the floor made it impossible for her to get a clear shot, and she grit her teeth in frustration, knowing that the risk of hitting Haruka on accident was too high, even for someone with her skill.

Briefly, she hesitated, not quite sure how to help the blonde; and just when she decided that she had to get right into the middle of that fight to accomplish anything, Steele let out a hoarse cry, and with another blast of her power, sent Haruka flying, her eyes going wide seconds later as she saw that now, the blonde not only held the knife, but also a pouch Michiru knew very well.

"How…!" she started, then apparently thought better of it, and pulled out her gun; before she could even take aim though, Michiru shot twice without hesitation, already moving while Steele was still falling, not bothering to check if the Commander was dead, figuring that, even if she wasn't, they had what they had come here for, hurried footsteps in the distance only adding to her decision that it would be smarter to leave their enemy behind injured so they could get out before more soldiers would join the fight.

"Run!" she half snapped, half yelled at Haruka as she hurried to her side, glad when the taller woman practically shot to her feet, clearly not all too perturbed by the hit Steele had landed; and together, they ran, Haruka clutching pouch and knife while Michiru kept her gun in hand, glancing back over her shoulder every now and then as shocked shouts echoed through the building when the soldiers found their Commander down on the floor, ready to fire the second another soldier would appear behind them.

"Stop them!" she heard someone yell, but by now, quite the distance had been put between where they had fought Steele and themselves; and they kept running, pushing themselves to the limit and not allowing themselves to slow down, until they had made it to one of the exits and burst out into the inappropriately sunny day.

Next to the door, a guard had been positioned, turning in surprise at their forceful exit; before he could do more than that though, Haruka brought up one arm and, without slowing down, smacked him right across the throat as she ran past him, and he went down with a surprised gurgle, clutching at his throat, the two women running on without looking back, Michiru fighting the urge to yell in triumph as she fully realized how well her plan had worked out.


	26. Unleashed

Only when they had made it back to the car and had put a safe distance between Old Haven and themselves, Haruka and Michiru allowed themselves to relax; and only then, Michiru spoke up, giving the blonde a curious look as she demanded to know how exactly Haruka had managed to take the pouch from the Commander during the fight.

"A mix of luck and skill", Haruka replied, keeping her gaze on the road even though there were no other cars in sight, a slight smirk curling her lips, "Minako is the one who's super skilled at picking pockets, but she taught me a few things, so when I felt the pouch during the fight, I figured I might as well make use of that."

"Picking locks and now, pockets", Michiru smiled, not bothering to hide that she was impressed, "do you have any other skills you haven't told me about?"

"Perhaps", Haruka replied, now taking her eyes off the road for a second to wink at her, "but it'd be boring to just tell you, no?"

"Ah", Michiru nodded solemnly, "yes, of course. Have no fear though, even if you told me all your skills and deepest, darkest secrets, you'd still be very interesting to me."

"Good to know", the blonde chuckled, Michiru's smile widening at the sound; she still felt a bit dazed after having been slammed against the wall, but gave her best to ignore this, keeping her focus on Haruka instead of pondering how her head felt, and making the taller woman smile by reaching out and placing one hand on her upper leg.

"It's a pity we didn't have time to search for our weapons", she then stated, glancing at the backseat of the car, where the sniper rifle she had purchased from Earl laid, "I really would have liked to get my own rifle back. But at least we retrieved the key pieces."

Nodding, Haruka kept one hand on the steering wheel while she reached into her pocket with the other, pulling out the pouch; thanking her, Michiru took it from her, feeling how her heart beat faster in excitement as she undid the string holding it close, her eyes going wide moments later as she peered inside.

Suddenly frantic, she dug through her pocket, until she felt the piece they had been given by the men of Big Boris; suddenly sure that her eyes had played a trick on her, she peered into the pouch again, her breath hitching when she took another, closer look and saw that she had seen right.

"Haruka", she brought out, unable to keep her voice from trembling, Haruka immediately giving her a concerned look in response, "stop the car."

Worried, Haruka did so at once, not even bothering to drive off the road; before she could ask Michiru what was wrong though, the sniper upended the pouch over her palm, and the blonde's eyes went wide too when three key pieces fell out of it, glistening weakly in the sunlight.

"You didn't add the one we took from Boris yet, did you", Haruka finally asked, not surprised when Michiru shook her head; absent-mindedly, she tossed the pouch aside, then used her free hand to dig out the fourth piece, feeling it tremble in her hand, as if it was aware of how close it was to the other three and was eager to join them.

For a moment, Michiru was tempted to put the pieces together right there, in the car; then, she realized that this might cause some sort of reaction, and hurriedly got out of the vehicle, Haruka following suit, keeping a bit of a distance to Michiru though while the sniper moved a few steps away from the car.

"Let's hope this won't blow up in my face", she murmured, holding her breath as she moved the fourth piece closer to the other three; she had a moment to wonder how the pieces would have to be put together, and if they would stick together on their own or if they'd have to find some sort of glue – and then, the three pieces lying on her palm vibrated strong enough to make her whole arm tremble, the fourth piece practically jumping from her grip to meet them.

There was an audible crack, loud and unexpected enough to make both Haruka and Michiru jump; and then, a bright purple light shot from the sniper's palm, so strong that Haruka had to avert her eyes, her heart leaping up to her throat when she heard Michiru from within the bright light, her voice trembling and breathless.

"Oh God", the sniper brought out, a shudder running through her whole body now as she felt all this power, for the first time fully realizing what a mighty object she was holding; it kept flooding her, touching the very core of her being – and then, it suddenly stopped, and her eyes rolled back into her head as her knees gave in beneath her, the realization that she was falling being the last thing her mind registered before the world went dark.

* * *

 _There was no water this time, and no ice. Instead, she was standing on stony ground, and there was smoke, thick and black and stinging in her eyes; she could hear fire roaring in the distance, but couldn't see it, couldn't see anything in this thick, black smoke._

" _They are coming", the voice she had heard in her dreams before told her, with a hint of urgency, and a bit of fear, "they are coming, you must be fast! Hurry! Wake up and HURRY!"_

Michiru's eyes snapped open, and she gasped, her gaze meeting the confused one of Haruka; apparently, to her relief, the blonde had moved fast enough to catch her when she had fallen, and now knelt on the floor, holding her in her arms, her worry also showing through her voice when she demanded to know if Michiru could hear her, if she was alright.

"Yes", she croaked, briefly closing her eyes when the world spun around her; she could feel the power within her again, crackling, stirring, so eager to be used, but she forced herself to hold it back, telling herself it'd be a waste to let it out now, with no target in sight, "help me up, we have to go, now, they're coming…"

She would forever be grateful and touched by the amount of trust Haruka showed in response to her words, not questioning her for a second; she just nodded, moving one arm so it was around her waist and helping her up moments later, supporting her for the few steps back to the car, and still taking the time to make sure that Michiru sat safely and comfortably in the passenger seat before she hurried around the vehicle and took her place behind the steering wheel, the sniper during the whole process not letting go of the key for a second.

"Where should I…?" she started, raising an eyebrow when Michiru shrugged, noting the way she kept glancing into the rear view mirror, the urgency still audible through her voice when she replied. "Doesn't matter, just away from here, and fast. If Steele could feel me being there just because we're both Sirens, then she might have felt what happened when the key was completed, as well, and they'll be on their way right now. I had another… dream when I was out cold, just like after our first time together."

At this, Haruka just nodded, then stepped down onto the gas pedal; the car shot forward with a roar of the engine, and Michiru briefly stiffened, then allowed herself to relax again, reminding herself of the fact that Haruka was a good driver and knew what she was doing, and that the blonde wouldn't lose control over the car even on this uneven terrain.

She kept glancing into the rear view mirror, half expecting an armada of Crimson Lance cars to appear behind them; only when Haruka had been driving for quite some time, and nothing out of the ordinary was happening, the diffuse feeling that something wasn't quite as she had thought began to surface, her heart speeding up as an impossibly to explain feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

Swallowing heavily, Michiru looked down onto the key, as if it could tell her what was going on; it laid perfectly still on her palm though, the only indication that it wasn't just a piece of pretty purple stone being the faint light she could see pulse deep within it, said light not helping with taking the dread away though, the suspicion that she had misunderstood the dream or vision or whatever it had been making her blood run cold.

"Turn around", she brought out, once more unable to keep the tremble out of her voice; Haruka gave her a worried look, but again didn't question her, just giving her a questioning look, and prompting her to speak on, "I think… I'm not sure how to explain this, but we have to go back."

She had been standing on stone, she remembered, and there had been smoke and fire… and whoever had been speaking to her had told her that they were coming and that she had to hurry.

But they never had said that anyone was coming for _her._

"We have to go back to Fyrestone", she told Haruka, swallowing heavily afterwards, "don't ask me how I know, but… we have to go back, and fast…"

Once more, Haruka just nodded, then stepped down onto the gas pedal; swallowing heavily again, Michiru clutched the key tight as the blonde drove, glancing at her every now and then, asking herself how much Haruka would still trust her once they'd find out whatever had happened to her hometown and once she'd realize how much of it was Michiru's responsibility for the things she had done.

* * *

They rested as little as possible during the journey back to Fyrestone, taking turns behind the wheel, even though Michiru didn't dare to drive quite as fast as Haruka; they both knew that driving with as little sleep as they allowed themselves was dangerous, but also knew that Steele had had a head start, and a whole army at her disposal, making sure that sleep wouldn't be an issue, and so they pressed on, despite how exhausting it was.

Despite how little rest the two allowed themselves, and how fast Haruka was driving whenever it was her turn, they had to realize that they still hadn't been fast enough, columns of smoke appearing on the sky up ahead as they got closer to their goal, and not long after they had spotted the smoke, gunfire and explosions reached their ears, Haruka's only visible reaction being the way her hands tightened around the steering wheel while she sped up even further, until Michiru was sure that the car simply couldn't go any faster.

Clearly, Steele had expected someone to interrupt their raid on the small town, perhaps not Haruka and Michiru in person, but opponents she took seriously enough to put up a guard at the town's only gate; fortunately for the couple though, the guard hadn't decided to do his job sitting in the car, and Haruka took care of him before he could alert anyone, simply running him over.

The gate, rickety as it was, had been closed, with neither of them sure if this had been done by the inhabitants of Fyrestone or by the Crimson Lance; Michiru figured that it didn't matter though, and it stopped them just as little as the guard had, the car crashing through it, making enough of a ruckus to gain the attention of several soldiers and townfolk.

There were too many of the soldiers, Michiru realized at once; she wasn't quite sure what Steele was hoping to accomplish by raiding the town, but she had brought more than enough men for the task, several of them opening fire, apparently having realized that, despite the car being one of theirs, the people inside it were not part of them.

They opened fire without hesitating, the wind shield shattering just as both Haruka and Michiru ducked down; Michiru could feel bullets hitting the passenger seat, taking a second to glance over at Haruka, making sure she was okay – and trying to memorize every little detail of the blonde's face, knowing what she had to do if she wanted to keep the town from being wiped off the map, and not having an idea how her plan might end for her.

She had a second to regret that she hadn't been able to find out more about Sirens, about their powers and the dangers these powers brought; she knew though that she had to take the risk, that she couldn't just let the Crimson Lance destroy Haruka's home and kill all these people, not after how said people had stood up for her and especially not with the knowledge of what losing all of this would do to her lover.

And so, with that in mind, Michiru briefly reached out and touched Haruka's hand; the blonde looked at her from where she was ducked down behind the steering wheel, but before she could say something, Michiru pushed the passenger side door open, not seeing anymore how Haruka's eyes went wide.

She still felt the power crackle deep within her, and now, she not only stopped holding it back, but reached for it, the complicated symbols beginning to glow on her skin, the same glow shining from her eyes as she stepped out of the car, the soldiers beginning to gesture and yell to one another as they realized what was happening, but she just smiled, knowing that none of them stood a chance anymore.


	27. Truth Be Told

The soldiers had one second to bring their weapons up, and they made use of that time; Michiru didn't give them more than that though, and before any of them had the chance to pull the trigger, she brought up one hand, almost casually, and shot a blast of energy right into the middle of the small group, some of them screaming when the impact sent them flying, but all of them silent by the time they hit the ground.

She more sensed than saw another group, to her right, their focus shifting from a few Fyrestone people who had taken cover in one of the rickety houses to her; without even properly looking at them, she made a brief, sharp gesture, and they screamed as the energy hit them, then cocooned them, until they all were quiet.

"Oh shit", she heard Haruka whisper somewhere behind her, her ears suddenly sensitive enough to pick up the soft sound despite the gunfire and screams all around her; she had a second to worry if that meant that she would go deaf if someone fired a gun close to her, then one of the soldiers did just that, and the smallest thought was enough to form a shield around her, the bullet slamming into it before it harmlessly fell down to the ground.

"It's her!" she heard Steele yell, and her anger flared up, only fuelling her power further, "take her down now!"

Her anger, impossibly, grew even more at hearing that, but at least, the soldiers left the people of Fyrestone alone now, focusing on her, none of their bullets even coming close to her as her easily brought up shield stopped them all.

She smiled, a terrifying, cruel smile, one which made some of the Crimson Lance men and women reconsider; none of them turned and ran though, not for a few seconds, and she wasn't willing to give them more than that, her eyes narrowing as she focused her power, all at once just _knowing_ how she had to use it, her smile widening when her shield at first grew spikes, then fired them off, taking men and women down left and right as they hit.

"Steele!" Michiru called out, and her voice was impossibly loud, soldiers dropping their weapons so they could reach up for their ears out of pure reflex, too late realizing that their helmets kept them from covering them, anyway, "shall we not settle this woman against woman? Siren against Siren?"

"Perhaps in a few minutes", Steele called back, somehow managing to make her voice echo from all around the sniper, so she couldn't pinpoint her location, "once you burned yourself out."

In response, Michiru just smiled again, then focused, searching for the essence of the other Siren; thanks to what Steele herself had told her, she knew it was possible for them to sense each other, and all she needed was to find the right wavelength, so she could…

She found it, so quick and with such force that it almost made her stagger; briefly, she wondered what Steele had meant when she had spoken of her burning out, then the power roared again within her and pushed those concerns aside, and she told herself that surely, the Commander had been bluffing, power like this wouldn't run out anytime soon, not if it felt so good and pure and right to use it.

She could tell with ease where Steele was hiding, and she made use of that new knowledge, carelessly blasting men and women out of the way as she walked closer to the Commander's location; as it was proper for the head of the army, Steele had been taken to Fyrestone in the biggest car they had had, and she stood on top of it as Michiru approached, the helmet hiding her features, keeping Michiru from seeing if she was worried or perhaps even frightened.

"Commander", she called out, with a mocking little curtsy, a skill she had been taught what seemed like a lifetime ago, back on her home planet, "good to see you again."

In response, Steele brought up her machine gun and fired, several controlled bursts in quick succession; her shield caught all the bullets effortlessly, and from how Steele's body language changed at the sight, Michiru now could tell that she was afraid, even without seeing her face.

"This was what you wanted, wasn't it", she realized, not quite sure if that realization had come on its own or if this tremendous power somehow had let her read Steele's mind on some subconscious level, and not really caring either way, "you wanted me here, so you could kill me and take the key. That is why you attacked this town. And all these innocent people."

"Nobody of them is innocent", Steele shot back, of all things, "how do you think they make a living here? They are barely better than bandits. That girl you love so much, do you know how often she has stolen from my army and me? Or do you not even care that you share your bed with a dirty thief!"

"No", Michiru simply replied, a spike of energy forming again; Steele hurriedly tried to whip up a shield similar to the one of the sniper, but Michiru was fuelled by the key, and her spike easily penetrated the flimsy shield the Commander had conjured up, hitting her right in the chest, a hoarse cry coming from her as she got thrown off the vehicle and hit the road behind it, a small cloud of dust rising from her point of impact, and black smoke curling from where the spike had hit her armour.

At the sight of seeing their Commander down, the soldiers lost what little resolve they still had had, dropped their weapons and ran; a few of them even made it past the car Haruka still sat in, then Michiru had noticed what they were doing and turned to look at them, a casual gesture of one hand sending spikes after them and taking several of them down, her goal of taking out Steele and ending the assault accomplished, but forgotten as the power roared within her, demanding to be used, and not even letting her notice how, inch by inch, it was taking control of her very being.

* * *

At first, Haruka had been impressed by how easily Michiru dealt with the soldiers, and how effectively she took care of the raid on her hometown; by the time Michiru had confronted Steele though, she had started to get worried, not sure it was healthy to use so much power, and when, after she had taken Steele down, Michiru had begun to attack soldiers who were already fleeing, Haruka had begun to get scared, realizing that something was going dreadfully wrong.

 _Stop her!_

The voice came out of nowhere, making her jump wide-eyed; it took her a second to realize that no one around her had spoken, but that the words had sounded right in her head, and just when that frightened her all anew, the voice came again, crackling and weak, as if blocked by static.

 _Stop her,_ it repeated, the urgency getting through despite what she only could call bad reception, _can't… too much… destroy her…_

Haruka didn't quite know what to do, not quite sure if Michiru would even realize who she was – now that the sniper had turned, the blonde could see her face, and her eyes were filled with bright blue light, but still strangely empty, all emotion gone from them as she fired her spikes at one soldier after the other, taking them down with frightening efficiency.

Telling herself that she had to try though, no matter what might happen to her, she got out of the car; and immediately, Michiru focused on her, and there was nothing in her eyes, none of the warmth she normally looked at her with, not even a hint of recognition.

"Michiru", she still called out, hoping that her voice would help, that Michiru would remember, remember how she had said her name when they had made love, "it's okay, you can stop, you won!"

Perhaps, this wasn't the smartest thing to say, but it was the only thing which came to Haruka's mind; Michiru raised an eyebrow in response, then laughed, while behind her, Steele crawled to the nearest cover, flopping down onto the ground and pulling off her helmet, letting Haruka see that her face was deathly pale and contorted with pain.

"No use", she rasped, somehow loud enough to let Haruka hear, Michiru briefly glancing at her as she spoke, then dismissing her as no threat, "she's gone. Thought… we could take her down. Didn't think… she'd have so much."

"Michiru", Haruka tried again, deciding to ignore what Steele had said, "don't listen to her. I know this is still you, you just… got a bit carried away. You can stop now, come on…"

"Why should I", Michiru demanded to know in reply, "so they can come back and try to kill all these people again? I don't think so."

"They're not gonna come back", Haruka gave back at once, holding back the urge to run both hands through her hair, telling herself that she couldn't let Michiru see how upsetting this was, that she had to keep her calm, "they lost, and they know it. They'll leave us alone. Isn't that right, Steele!"

"Whatever", Steele rasped, her voice weak, making the blonde wonder if the Commander was at death's door, "tell her whatever. She's not gonna stop. She's gonna overload and die."

"Shut up!" Haruka snapped at her, both angry and afraid now, "don't listen to her, Michiru, you're not gonna die. You'll stop now, won't you?"

"I don't think so", Michiru replied, causing the blonde's blood to run cold, "all this power… it'd be a shame to not use it. Don't you agree?"

"It's going to hurt you", Haruka tried to make her see reason, even though her fear outweighed the anger again as she wondered if she could accomplish that, "all this power, it's too much, it's going to—"

Michiru made a brief movement at her, just a short gesture, but it was more than enough; the blast which hit her wasn't as strong a the one which had taken down Steele and most of her soldiers, but it was strong enough to throw her backwards, until her feet got caught on some soldier's corpse and she fell, hitting the ground with a low grunt.

"Lies", Michiru hissed, her eyes narrowing, the power still filling them with an eerie pale blue glow, "you're a liar. You don't want me to have that power. You're like Steele!"

"You know I'm not", Haruka pressed out as she struggled back to her feet; her chest hurt where she had been hit, but at least, she told herself, there was no blood, skilfully ignoring the fact that broken ribs wouldn't bleed, "I just want you to be safe. So we can find the vault together and get the treasure, and then we can be together!"

"We can't", Michiru told her, for the first time showing some emotion other than disdain, her voice wavering just the tiniest bit, but enough to give Haruka hope, only for said hope to be shattered again moments later as the sniper went on, "as you well know! You know I have to leave! Liar!"

She brought her hand up and hit Haruka again, putting more force into the blast this time; it was hard enough to send her flying, and her breath got knocked out of her as she hit the ground, leaving her wheezing for air while Michiru clenched her fists, a tremble running through her as the power within her warred with the realization of what she just had done.

"We can find a way", Haruka gasped, struggling back to her feet yet again, "I promise, we can find a way… just stop… Michiru, please!"

She took a step forward, and to her relief, Michiru didn't react by attacking her again; instead, the sniper's shoulder slumped, the anger fading from her features, replaced by deep sadness and resignation, an overwhelming tiredness in her voice when she replied.

"How", she asked, looking at Haruka so hopelessly that it hurt more than the hits the blonde had taken, "I can't stay here, and you can't come with me…"

"We'll find a way", Haruka reassured her once more, taking a few more steps closer as she spoke, relieved when Michiru didn't get angry again, "somehow, once we've had time to think, you're so smart, we can figure something out. We'll be together, you and I, I promise…"

She heard Steele let out a breathless, small laugh, and from the corner of her eye noticed that the people of Fyrestone were peering out from behind their various covers, eager to see how this would unfold; then, one of them called out "We'll help!", Haruka recognizing the voice as Minako, and others agreed, honest surprise on Michiru's face when she looked around and saw all the nodding and smiling faces.

"See", Haruka immediately latched on to that new emotion, "people here care about you. About us. We can do this, together…"

There was one more thing she had to say, she realized, as the shield was still up, and kept her from getting closer to Michiru and from touching her; it wasn't easy for her to say it, but she knew that it was the truth, and hoped that Michiru would see this, too.

"We can do it, together", she repeated once more, just to be on the safe side, taking another step closer, "I'll do whatever to be with you. You mean so much to me Michiru, I… I love you…"

Michiru's eyes briefly widened at hearing those words, her breath hitching noticeably… and then, the shield vanished, and immediately, Haruka stepped closer to her, as close as she could, not caring about the power still crackling around her as she pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her deeply, trying to show her that she had meant every word through the kiss, putting all her feelings out there in the open for Michiru and everyone else to see.

And after a second, Michiru kissed her back, clinging to her the way a drowning person might cling to a piece of driftwood; the power died down around her as she focused on the kiss and on Haruka and on how good this felt, her heart soaring, all her anger forgotten.

"I love you too", she whispered breathlessly after the kiss, suddenly feeling close to tears; she still didn't know how they would solve the dilemma of her having to go back home, but now she believed that they could, that they would find a way, just like Haruka had said…

…and just then, Steele let out another laugh behind her and, with the last bit of strength she had left, brought up her gun, a shot echoing and destroying the peaceful moment as blood spattered to the dusty ground.


	28. To The Vault

As the echo of the shot died down, everyone stood perfectly still, nobody making a sound; and so, the _thud_ of the body hitting the ground was quite loud, a few more seconds ticking by in terse silence afterwards – until Minako let out a heavy breath and lowered her gun, sweat forming on her brow as she realized what a close call this had been.

"Thank you", Michiru finally was the one to speak up, turning to look at her, and making her smile wryly, "if you hadn't acted so fast…"

"…Steele would have shot you", Haruka finished for her, with a tremble in her voice, her heart cramping up at the thought of losing Michiru just moments after confessing her love to her; sending her turmoil, Michiru rubbed her back soothingly in response, silently reassuring her that it hadn't happened and that she was okay.

"We better make sure she's gone for good now", Minako stated, making them both nod; gun still in hand, the barkeep moved to where the Commander laid lifelessly on her back, a puddle of blood having formed around her head by now, the wound hidden from view as Minako had shot her from behind.

Not wanting to get a nasty surprise, Minako poked the body with her foot first, then used said foot to turn Steele over; and moments later, they could be sure that the Commander indeed was dead, most of the back of her head gone, and what was left of it was a sticky, red mess, splinters of bone poking out here and there, one of the Fyrestone men puking noisily at the sight.

"Damn", Haruka commented, not letting it show if the mess upset her, "what the Hell did you shoot her with? That's not your regular bullet, is it?"

"Hollow point", Minako told her, Michiru nodding along, having seen the effects these bullets had before, "figured they would be more useful against those armoured jerks than the regular ones. But still a good thing she took off her helmet. Hey, why did you never mention you're a Siren?"

The change of topic came so unexpected that it boggled Michiru's mind, and for a few seconds, all she could do was blink; Minako smiled back at her innocently, while the rest of the town people now was looking at her, too, making her feel quite uncomfortable.

"I didn't know", she finally regained her ability to speak, making Minako raise an eyebrow, "until we got into a firefight against those Crimson Lance goons, Haruka got hurt, we found a key piece and it… activated my powers, for lack of a better word."

"You got hurt?" Minako immediately demanded to know, glaring at Haruka, "how come this wasn't the first thing you told me!"

"Cause Michiru healed me", Haruka shrugged, deciding not to mention what the Crimson Lance torture guy had done to her, suddenly fearing that Minako might find some warped way to bring Steele back so she could kill her all over again in revenge, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Fancy powers then, I guess", the smaller blonde commented, earning a shrug from the sniper, "and, well, even though you went a bit scary there for a while, at least you took care of the Crimson Lance. Now you can search for the other pieces in peace!"

"Oh, no need for that", Michiru smiled, making the barkeep raise an eyebrow; before Minako could inquire though, the sniper reached into her pocket and brought out the key, a series of gasps coming from the watching people as they realized what it was.

"I do believe there was talk of free drinks all night once we show you the whole key", Haruka said, somewhat smug, "and while it's not quite night yet, I'm gonna hold you to that promise later, Minako."

"I never should have said that", Minako groaned, earning a chuckle from Haruka while Michiru smiled slightly; it astounded the sniper a bit that nobody looked at her with fear or even just dismay, despite the rather frightening lapse of control she had suffered just minutes ago, but apparently, the people of Fyrestone were quite willing to ignore what had happened, as it meant that for a while, the Crimson Lance would be out of the picture and would leave them in peace.

"We'll drop by at the bar later", Haruka told her, smirking again, "for now, I think we should all get some rest, after all that excitement."

"Yeah, we can clean up the mess later", Minako agreed, earning nods from the people around, some of them smirking when she raised her voice as she continued, "and I expect you Crimson Lance guys to get the bodies of your buddies out of here, and if you don't, or try something, Michiru will go Siren on your asses again!"

Michiru wasn't quite sure if she could do a repeat performance, but didn't bother to mention that; she just tried to look menacing, in case any of the few soldiers still left were watching, nodding her agreement when Haruka suggested that they should retreat to her house.

"Should we really sleep?" Michiru wanted to know once they had made their way there, "what if they attack again?"

"They won't", Haruka gave back, making the sniper wonder how she could be so sure, "their Commander is gone, and there's barely any of them left. They'll collect their dead and then retreat to headquarters to lick their wounds, and probably start killing each other while trying to decide who's gonna be their new commander."

"Ah", Michiru let out, figuring that this kind of made sense; suddenly feeling awkward, she started toying with the first random object she got hold of, some lengthy piece of metal, focusing her gaze on that as she all at once found it difficult to keep looking at Haruka, the blonde immediately picking up on her changed mood and giving her a worried look, concern also in her voice when she asked her if she was alright.

"How can you all just accept this so easily", the words practically burst out of the sniper in response, Haruka a bit taken aback by the sudden emotion in her voice, "I completely lost control, I could have killed you all! And I hurt you…"

"Not much", Haruka told her, making her raise an eyebrow, "honestly, I won't even get a bruise. You didn't hit me that hard."

"I shouldn't have hit you at all!" Michiru pointed out, not willing to let herself off the hook that fast, even though Haruka apparently was, "how can you just shrug it off like that? I could have seriously hurt you!"

"But you didn't", Haruka shrugged it off, unperturbed by Michiru's apparent disbelief, her gaze softening though as she saw how distraught the sniper was.

"Michiru", she stated, moving closer to her and putting both arms around her, prompting her to put the piece of metal back on the small table where she had found it before she returned the embrace, "we live on a planet where giant creepy worm things blast out of the earth to eat people and where bandits mutate into bigass psycho creatures. Getting tossed around a bit by a Siren is nothing all too special here."

"Still I'm sorry", Michiru sighed, allowing herself to relax into the embrace, even managing a small smile when she felt Haruka rub her back tenderly, "I never should have allowed myself to lose control like that, and hurting you… If you hadn't stopped me…"

"We're not big on dwelling on the What Ifs here", Haruka let her know with another shrug, "if one might get eaten by crazy wildlife every time they leave town, pondering such things kind of… loses its appeal. It doesn't matter what could have happened, alright? It all ended well, we got rid of the Crimson Lance, and we got the key, so tomorrow, we can go find the vault!"

"If you're not too hung-over after all the free drinks you're going to get at the bar", Michiru gave back, smiling at the huff Haruka let out at once.

"I'll let you know", she then primly said, "that I can hold my liquor very well. Drinking is one of the few pleasant things one can do around here, so we start training early. Now you, on the other hand…"

"I never drink", Michiru reminded her, "so I'd probably be drunk after one beer. I'll stick to water even tonight."

"You being drunk after one itty bitty drink is what I was pointing out", Haruka chuckled, making it Michiru's turn to huff; then, she decided that she could forgive some teasing, especially after what had happened, and pulled the blonde town for a tender kiss, relaxing even further at the feeling of Haruka's lips on hers.

"So", she then murmured, "there was not only talk of free drinks, but also of rest, I believe?"

The way her hand slid beneath Haruka's shirt to rub her back skin to skin made it quite obvious what sort of "resting" she had in mind; Haruka smirked at her as she nodded, then suddenly grimaced, Michiru giving her a questioning look in response and prompting her to elaborate.

"I'm not sure my bed is made for that kind of… resting", she pointed out, reminding Michiru of the first night she had spent in this house, when Haruka had remarked that her bed wasn't all too stable; briefly, she was tempted to make use of it, anyway, then decided against it, figuring that there were other ways which would not endanger the bed.

"Well", she thus said out loud, gently pushing Haruka until her back hit the wall, "the bed might be a bit flimsy, but the wall looks sturdy enough."

She gave the taller woman a brief smile, then pulled her down for another kiss, simultaneously moving her free hand to undo Haruka's belt, her heart skipping a beat when in response, the blonde quickly unbuttoned her shirt, her guilt forgotten as all the good feelings this brought easily pushed it aside.

* * *

To Michiru's delight – and slight surprise, after the amount of beers she had watched Haruka gulp down during the night – the blonde wasn't hung over in the morning, just as she had claimed; she was just as awake and fresh as the sniper herself, and clearly eager to get going, her excitement about the possibility of finding vast treasure rather soon quite infectious, making Michiru feel uncharacteristically giddy, as well.

"So how we are we gonna do this", Haruka asked as she loaded the Crimson Lance car she clearly considered theirs now with fresh supplies, "do we have any idea where the vault actually is located?"

"No", Michiru had to admit, not letting this lessen her good mood though, "but I do have an idea. Perhaps the key, in combination with my Siren powers, can lead us there. I'll only try this though if you're willing to talk me down again, in case it goes wrong."

"Sure I am", Haruka told her at once, earning another smile; the sniper took the time for a brief kiss, then carefully removed the key from her pocket, holding it in both hands and focusing on it, not quite sure what she was doing, but figuring that it was worth a try, anyway.

She tried to keep her focus on the key while she reached for the power within her, finding it and tapping into it easily after how she had used it the previous day; briefly, this frightened her, as she wondered if she'd lose control again… and then, the key began to glow brightly, forcing Haruka to look away, the glow dying down again a few moments later.

"So?" the blonde dared to ask, when it didn't seem as if Michiru would go into rampage mode again, "did that work?"

"Yes", Michiru breathed in response, a tremble in her voice as she felt the power crackle within her, but, to her relief, managed to keep it under control, "it did. I know where we have to go now."


	29. Arrival

"I much prefer riding like this to the gunner seat of your previous vehicle", Michiru let Haruka know as the blonde drove, following the directions Michiru had given her; it still astounded the sniper how well her idea had worked out, the information about the location of the vault suddenly just there, right in her brain, as if she had known all her life.

"Because", she added as Haruka gave her a brief questioning look, "I can do this." Smiling, she reached over and placed one hand on the blonde's upper leg; Haruka smirked back at her, clearly not averse to the touch, briefly regretting that for safety reasons, she had to keep both hands on the steering wheel.

"I like when you do this", Haruka told her, focusing on the road again, "and hey, if we're lucky, the bandits we'll meet on the way will think we're Crimson Lance and won't dare to attack us."

"Just another advantage of this car, then", Michiru smiled, earning a brief nod from the blonde; then, she fell silent as she looked out the windshield again, at the rather bleak landscape, to her surprise realizing after a minute or two that it wasn't as dreadful to her anymore as it had been when she had set foot on this planet for the first time.

Perhaps, she thought to herself as Haruka kept driving, the miles between themselves and the vault melting away at the speed with which the blonde drove, it was a mixture of getting used to it and seeing it with new eyes, after all the things she had learned and discovered on this planet; not only had she realized that she was a Siren, she pondered, but also, for the first time in her life, she felt that someone truly cared for her, and not just Haruka, even though that would have been more than enough, but the people of Fyrestone, as well.

She smiled to herself as she thought back to her first thoughts about this planet, when she had gotten off the space ship; it still was a dump, she knew… but a dump where she had found so much more than she ever would have thought she'd find, before the vault itself even had been discovered and opened.

"I'm glad I came here", she said, making Haruka glance at her again, just briefly before her eyes focused on the road again, "no matter what we'll find in this vault, if we'll be rich beyond our wildest dreams or if it'll be a load of useless rocks."

"I'm glad you came here, too", Haruka told her, making her smile again, "and I meant what I said back at the town, we'll figure something out so we can be together even after we opened the vault."

"Yes", Michiru agreed, "there has to be some way to make this work. Perhaps I will simply tell—"

Up until this very moment, the visions only ever had come when she had been asleep, and so, she had no idea at first what was happening when the world blurred in front of her eyes, then vanished; next to her, Haruka stopped the car at once, calling out her name in alarm, Michiru hearing nothing of it though, hanging in the seat now, her eyes rolled back in her head, her body shaking as the vision took hold of her.

Again, she was caught in ice this time, the transparent, rock-hard substance enclosing her legs from her feet all the way up to her knees; in the distance, she could see a giant mountain, with a dark cave entrance, and she just knew that this was the way to the vault, the ground rumbling beneath her feet as _something_ moved within the mountain.

 _Don't open it,_ the same voice she had heard in her previous visions warned her, with a hint of urgency, _you have the key, and your powers. This is all you can ask for from this. Do not open the vault._

The vision ended as quickly and harshly as it had begun, and with a gasp, Michiru snapped out of the darkness; she could feel Haruka grasping her shoulder, and moments later, the blonde's voice reached her ears, full of concern, the fear in Haruka's voice prompting Michiru to croak out that she was okay.

"What the Hell was that", Haruka demanded to know, her hand still on the sniper's shoulder, but some of the urgency gone from her voice, "I thought you're having a stroke or something!"

"Nothing like that", Michiru reassured her, running a shaky hand through her hair, surprised to find cold sweat on her brow at the motion, "remember those dreams I told you about? With the voice telling me we shouldn't give up and keep searching for the vault?"

"Yeah", Haruka gave back, in the same moment realizing that she hadn't told Michiru yet about how she had heard this voice too and deciding that now was a good time for it, "I heard it too, you know, when you were all powerful back in Fyrestone. It told me that I have to stop you, but it was hard to understand, all interrupted and static-y."

"It was quite clear this time", Michiru let her know, slightly surprised about hearing this, but figuring that it was just another indicator for the voice being benevolent to them, "and the first time it actually contacted me when I was awake. Anyway, after telling me again and again that we have to find the vault, it now told me to not go there."

"That's weird", Haruka said what the sniper was thinking, frowning, "why would whoever is speaking to you… us… like that at first push you towards the vault and then tell you not to open it?"

"I'm not sure", Michiru gave back, pulling the key from her pocket and studying it thoughtfully, "perhaps whoever spoke to us just wanted to make sure that we get the key and not Steele. Maybe the vault doesn't hold treasure, but… locks something up."

She thought back to the vision, to how she had felt the ground tremble and, for some strange reason she couldn't quite name, had been sure that it had been something moving within the vault which had caused that; she imagined all sort of dreadful creatures now, just waiting for an unsuspecting adventurer to open the vault so they could at first feast on the unlucky person, and then break free to terrorize Pandora.

"That sounds terrifying", Haruka commented, her frown deepening, "but let's assume you are right, then it really would be better to not open the vault. Hey, what if, with the key, one can not only open the vault, but control whatever is inside it?"

The idea had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, a thought which had come out of nowhere; Michiru didn't reject it at once though, as others might have, but thought about it, frowning to herself as she considered the implications.

"Let's assume this is true", she murmured, her fingers absent-mindedly playing with the hem of her shirt, "let's assume there's some sort of powerful creature caught in the vault, and with the key, it can be controlled. Nobody in their right mind would want the Crimson Lance to control such a thing."

"They'd run the planet within a week", Haruka grimaced, "so if whoever is behind this mysterious voice doesn't want that, of course they'd try to stop them."

"I don't like it to be used that way, though", Michiru told her, frowning yet again, wishing that whoever had been speaking to Haruka and her would make an appearance so she could glare at them, "and if what we just theorized is correct, well, then this is exactly what happened. They used us to keep Steele from getting the key and from opening the vault, and now, we're not even going to be rewarded for that?"

"Well, you did discover that you're an awesome Siren", Haruka smirked in response, making her smile slightly, as well, "that's something, no? And if there really is no treasure in the vault, aww, too bad, then you won't have money for your poor family and you'll need to continue searching for treasure."

Realizing that this was true, Michiru's smile widened as she thought of all the implications; not only would she have a good reason to not go home right after finding the vault, but she also could spend more time with Haruka, time which they could use to be together and how to figure out what to do for the time after treasure actually had been found.

She didn't know if there were any other vaults on Pandora, but figured that there would be a way to find out; before she could ponder this further though, Haruka asked her if she should continue driving to the vault despite the warning, and she nodded after a moment, deciding that, even if for whatever reason, they couldn't open the vault, they at least could get a good look at it.

"Your wish is my command", Haruka told her with a wink, making her smile yet again; and as the blonde stepped down on the gas pedal, she reached over once more to place her hand on the taller woman's upper leg, curious what they might find at the vault, and if perhaps, they finally would meet the owner of the mysterious voice once they'd arrive there.

* * *

"Well, that looks quite unspectacular", Haruka commented as she stopped the car, then got out of it; Michiru did the same, eying the mountain she had seen in her vision, the entrance to the cave leading into the mountain's depths and probably to the vault looking quite ominous and even sinister to her.

"It has some sort of… vibe, though", she voiced these emotions to Haruka; had it been anyone else, she would have kept them to herself, not wanting to appear like a moron, but with Haruka, she found it easy to eve reveal these things, knowing that the blonde would never judge her for them.

"Some Siren thing, perhaps", Haruka replied, eying the cave, as well, but picking up the vibe Michiru had mentioned, "what should we do? Go inside? Maybe whoever has been talking to us will make an appearance then."

"Worth a try", Michiru gave back, already unbuckling her seatbelt; Haruka did the same, and they both got out of the car, the sniper retrieving her rifle from the backseat and strapping it to her back while Haruka made sure that her gun was loaded and ready for use, just in case.

They looked at each other, a quiet reassurance that they both were ready to go; then, Michiru stepped closer to the blonde and pulled her down for a kiss, a short, but tender meeting of their lips – before they, without another word necessary, got moving, entering the mountain which would lead them to the entrance of the vault.


	30. Behind the Voice

Neither Haruka, nor Michiru knew what to expect as they entered the cave; it only took a few steps for the daylight to stop illuminating the cave, and Michiru paused her walk for a moment, digging out the flashlight she had brought along and switching it on, not wanting either of them to twist an ankle on the rough, stony ground.

"Maybe you should walk in front of me", Haruka suggested after a while, as they moved deeper and deeper into the cave, "just in case you get another of those visions and faint or something? Then I can catch you."

"Good point", Michiru agreed, speeding up a bit to move past Haruka, asking her if the flashlight still illuminated the cave well enough for her once she was in front of her, the blonde reassuring her that it was and that she could see just fine.

Hoping that there would be no need for Haruka to catch her, Michiru kept moving, glancing around to make sure that no strange creatures would jump them from the shadows; the cave was quiet though, only a soft _drip drip drip_ of water coming from somewhere deep within it, no other noises reaching her ears.

"I'm surprised that this cave seems so empty", she murmured to Haruka, keeping her voice low just in case, "one would think that, on this planet, all sorts of creepy creatures would make this their home. But there aren't even any insects, it seems."

"That is weird", Haruka agreed, glancing around as well, "maybe it's the vault keeping them away somehow, I mean, if a piece of the key was enough to activate your Siren powers…"

Nodding, Michiru strained her ears for any other noise than the constant dripping of water; and just then, as she took another step, goosebumps broke out all over her body, a shiver running down her spine, as if an ice-cold finger had slowly trailed down her skin.

"You felt that, too, right", Haruka whispered behind her, the sniper not sure if she should feel relieved about this or if it should concern her; she nodded her agreement, belatedly realizing that she had stopped walking and that her hand had dropped to her gun, her heart suddenly beating painfully fast as she looked around, all at once just sure that something would happen any moment… and that it wouldn't be something good.

As if to confirm this, the ground trembled beneath their feet, the way it had in her vision, both of them briefly fighting to stay on their feet; and then, a massive roar sounded through the cave, Michiru automatically taking a step back even though no threat was in sight, bumping into Haruka, the taller woman steadying her immediately by placing a firm hand on her back.

"What the Hell was that", she murmured, once she could be sure that Michiru wasn't having another vision and wouldn't end up collapsing into her arms, "did the weird voice warn you about that?"

"No", Michiru told her, slowly relaxing again as no more trembling and no more roars happened, "but whatever it was, I'm not sure I want to meet it. It sounded… big."

"And hungry", Haruka added, prompting Michiru to wonder how she could tell about this after a simple roar; then, she shrugged it off, turning to look at the blonde, not bothering to hide her dismay when she asked if perhaps, it'd be smarter to just take the mysterious voice's advice and leave.

"I still don't like it that, apparently, we were used to keep Steele from opening the vault", she added, "but it'll be better to live with that than to end up eaten by some gruesome monster."

"Agreed", Haruka gave back at once, looking so relieved that made Michiru smile despite the unpleasant situation, "if what we heard is the treasure in the vault, I'll be very glad to not have it."

"Perhaps it guards treasure", Michiru suggested in response, beginning to walk back to the cave's exit, Haruka next to her now instead of behind her, "but one should know which risks to take and which are best left alone when hunting for treasure, and this seems like too much of a risk."

"Yup", the blonde agreed again, glancing back over her shoulder just to make sure no giant monster was breaking free to chase them, "cause if it can make the cave tremble like that? It's really, really big. Even if it guards a treasure, I imagine there are less dangerous ways to find riches."

"Indeed", Michiru nodded, glad when daylight appeared up ahead, switching off the flashlight and putting it back into her pocket, "and you know what else?"

"What?" Haruka wanted to know, stopping when Michiru did; turning to face her, the sniper smiled, then stepped closer to her, putting both arms around her, and immediately prompting her to return the embrace.

"I came here to find treasure in the vault", Michiru needlessly reminded her partner, "but, well, since that didn't work out, I'll have to stay here longer, until I find another way to get money, or, perhaps, hear of another vault. I can't go home right away again. What a shame."

"Yes, just dreadful", Haruka agreed with a chuckle, causing Michiru's smile to widen, "poor you, your family is gonna be so disappointed. Hey, maybe it can take you quit a long time to hear of another vault, or find another way to make money."

"Yes, who knows", Michiru replied, a wink accompanying her words; Haruka chuckled again in response, then kissed her briefly, the two smiling at each other afterwards before they got moving again, stepping out of the cave a short while later.

They both blinked into the bright sunlight, their eyes somewhat having gotten used to the darkness and weak light of the flashlight inside the cave; and the moment her vision had cleared enough, Michiru let her hand drop down to her gun again, Haruka following suit this time a second later, the sniper's eyes narrowing as she took in this newest development, not quite sure what to think of it.

If the woman casually leaning against their car would have wanted to attack them, she could have done so while they were still adjusting to the bright sunlight; Michiru also couldn't see any weapons on her, but knew that this meant nothing, keeping her own Siren powers in mind, powers which allowed her to generate balls of energy out of nowhere and toss them at people, the thought that perhaps, this woman could do the same or at least something similar, not seeming all too ludicrous to her anymore.

Only belatedly, Michiru realized that she could see the car through the woman's body; and from the gasp Haruka let out next to her, she had noticed the oddly transparent appearance of the woman, as well, the sniper almost rolling her eyes as she asked if now, after all this, they had to deal with some sort of ghost, as well.

"Have no fear", the woman said, smiling kindly at them, not perturbed the slightest by their reaction to her voice as they both recognized her immediately as the one who had been speaking to Michiru through visions and to Haruka once, "I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to thank you."

"For not opening the vault, I imagine", Michiru replied, feeling slight anger again as she reminded herself that this person had used both Haruka and her, perhaps with good intentions, but that didn't make it much better; the woman smiled in response, either not noticing her anger, or ignoring it, nodding her agreement.

"For stopping Steele, getting the key, and not using it", she then told the couple, unperturbed by how Michiru crossed her arms over her chest, "you would have unleashed a great evil upon this world. The creature within the vault is called the Destroyer, and you can surely imagine that it did not gain this name without reason."

"Indeed", Michiru replied, "but I am not quite happy with how you made use of Haruka and me to make sure everything turns out the way you want it. You kept telling me not to give up, that I have to reach the vault, and never once considered to simply tell me what your real intentions are?"

"I couldn't be sure you'd listen", the woman pointed out in response, "you did try to go the vault, and if the Destroyer had been smart enough to keep quiet, you would have opened it, wouldn't you? Even though I told you otherwise."

"Perhaps", Michiru had to admit, still not bothering to keep her anger out of her voice, "but, as I said, I do not like it to be used. Especially not by having treasure dangled in front of my eyes, only to find out that it doesn't exist."

"You did not get what you came here for, that is true", the woman gave back, still not all too perturbed by the sniper's ire, "but I do believe that you got what you truly needed. Not only do you have good reason now to stay away from a mother who can't accept you and a father who just uses you, but you also found love."

Michiru recoiled as if she had been struck, her eyes widening; surprised at this harsh reaction, Haruka shot her a concerned look, but before she could say something, the sniper spoke up again, the breathless sound of her voice prompting the blonde to put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"How can you know this", she demanded to know, still feeling as if the air had been knocked out of her, all the anger gone, "who are you?!"

"My name is Setsuna", the woman gave back, smiling kindly at her, as if to silently reassure her that she hadn't meant harm with her words, "I am a Siren, like you. The oldest one alive, and the only one who knows the contents of the vault. I apologize for not speaking freely when you were still searching for it, but I had to make sure that Steele wouldn't get there first."

"Well, you accomplished that", Michiru regained her composure at last, a bit shocked by how long this had taken her, "so congratulations. I assume this is all you wanted from us?"

"Yes", Setsuna confirmed, smiling again, her image flickering oddly, as if she was having trouble keeping the projection of herself up, something she confirmed with her very next words, "and, as you can see, I can't talk to you much longer. Appearing like this is quite tiring, and not even my energy is unlimited. Just let me tell you one more thing… if you are still after treasure, there are many others here on Pandora. Not as dangerous as the vault, and not as difficult to acquire."

She smiled again, the projection flickering more and more; still she took the time to tell the couple to take care, then she vanished, the abruptness with which this happened, from one second to the next, making both of them blink for a few moments, until Michiru finally recovered and shook her head.

"Well", she then stated, looking at Haruka, "guess our little adventure is over, then. And I can't even give you your share of the treasure, cause there is none."

"Doesn't matter", Haruka shrugged, "I got an awesome new car out of that little adventure, as you called it, and that armour we took from the Crimson Lance guys should bring quite a bit of cash, too."

"And Setsuna did say that there is more treasure on this planet", Michiru pondered, "perhaps, this is worth an investigation."

"Sure", Haruka replied with another shrug, "even though she could have given us more information."

She didn't inquire about the things the mysterious Setsuna had said about Michiru's parents, and for that, the sniper was thankful; she smiled and stepped closer to her, putting both arms around her, her smile widening when immediately, Haruka returned the embrace.

"But before we go treasure hunting", the smaller woman stated, "I think we both deserve some downtime. Why don't we go back to Fyrestone and take a few days to relax there?"

"Good idea", Haruka agreed at once, absent-mindedly caressing the sniper's back; Michiru briefly pulled her even closer, then stole a quick kiss, gesturing at the car afterwards.

"Shall we get moving, then?" she suggested, earning another nod from her partner; they kissed once more, then moved to the car, soon driving away from the vault, neither of them looking back once.


	31. Epilogue

"Careful now", Michiru called out, a bit nervous, "don't drop it, and don't fall!"

"Of course not", Haruka gave back, the sniper watching somewhat unhappily how she climbed around on the top of the building, helping with putting the roof in place; the small house she had lived in before had been torn down, a task which had been fulfilled quite quickly, and they had used part of the money they had gotten for selling the Crimson Lance armour to build a new one, big enough for the two of them.

She held her breath when the roof was put in place, immensely relieved by the time it was done and Haruka, along with the other workers, climbed back down; the moment the blonde had firm ground beneath her feet again, Michiru relaxed visibly, shaking her head as she walked over to the taller woman.

"I still don't understand why you had to help with this", she told her, "it's not like they couldn't have done that on their own."

"Well, it is our house", Haruka pointed out, "so it felt right to help with doing that."

Having to admit that this was a good point, Michiru nodded, then looked past at her at said house; now with the roof in place, it was as good as done, and all they had to do was to add furniture, the sniper smiling to herself as she thought back to how she had arrived on Pandora, how unlikely it had seemed back then that she'd stay longer than she absolutely had to.

And now, the few days of rest she had suggested had turned into several months, time they had spent in Fyrestone and had used Michiru's money and the extra cash from the sold armours to improve the town's buildings and security; and she had used some of the money to send a letter to her parents, explaining that she wouldn't be back any time soon and that sadly, they would have to find another way to make money, with the vault having ended up not holding any treasure at all and her intentions to leave Pandora again having dropped down to zero.

Her father had answered quite fast, the letter arriving with the next trader to stop by at the town; he had demanded to know what was going on, why she wasn't coming back home, and had reminded her of the fact that the family still needed money, her only response to this being that she sent him some of the cash they had gotten for selling the armours.

He hadn't written again since then, and neither had her mother; and she was somewhat grateful for it, finally having admitted to herself that her father only had seen her as means to an end to get rich again, and that her mother never had been able to fully accept her, neither her interest in sniper rifles and shooting, nor her preferences when it came to whom she took to bed.

 _If she could see me now, she'd have a stroke,_ she thought to herself, smirking at the thought, even though it was a bit malicious, _living in a place like this, with a woman like Haruka…_

"Refreshments for the hard workers!" a cheerful voice distracted her from her ponderings, Michiru watching with a bit of amazement how Minako moved to the group of townspeople, balancing a surprisingly large amount of beer bottles and, despite that, walking quite fast, "on the house! Remember that the next time you want to fight and trash my bar!"

"Especially now", Haruka added while she accepted one of the beers, Michiru finding herself oddly touched when Minako handed her a bottle of water, having kept the fact that she didn't drink alcohol in mind, "after all the work we did there! Anyone breaks one of those new chairs, I'm gonna shove the pieces up their a—"

"Well!" Michiru interrupted her before she could say that certain word out loud, "that certainly was graphic, Haruka, I'm sure nobody will start a fight anytime soon now."

"What if you break a chair", one of the workers demanded to know, "will you put it up your own… uhm… butt then?"

"I've never broken a chair in Minako's bar and I'm not planning to start now", Haruka replied, the worker shrugging in response; deciding that this topic had been discussed long enough now, Michiru changed it by commenting on how glad she was that the new house was as good as done now, everyone nodding enthusiastically in response.

"Just two more buildings, then we renovated all of town", one of the men cried out happily, even bouncing on the spot a bit with excitement, to Michiru's and Haruka's amusement, "it's so nice of you guys to pay for all of this!"

"Well, now that I'm staying here", Michiru gave back, "I might as well make sure the town I live in is as nice as it can be, on a planet like this."

"Admit it, you never thought this would happen", Minako threw in, grinning from ear to ear, "when you came here, I bet you were all, Eewww, this planet is gross."

"Close", Michiru admitted with a slight smile, "actually, my first thought was that this planet is a dump. And that didn't change for a while, even though I started appreciating the people living here when I laid eyes on Haruka."

"How sappy", Minako said, rolling her eyes, while Haruka blushed slightly, "but hey, I bet you appreciated Haruka even more when you laid hands on her, right?"

"Minako!" Haruka yelped, her blush deepening, "you don't just ask people something like that, jeez, what is wrong with you. And it's none of your business, anyway!"

Minako waved her protest aside, the beer now having been distributed to the workers; Haruka rolled her eyes, and Michiru smiled slightly as she stepped closer to the blonde, putting one arm around her waist and immediately making the taller woman return the gesture by wrapping one arm around her as well and pull her closer.

"Just so you know", Michiru murmured to her, keeping her voice low to make sure no one else would hear, even though people weren't paying attention anyway, talking to each other excitedly about the work they still had to get done in town, "Minako was right, I did appreciate you even more after I laid hands on you. This whole planet got much easier to like, in fact."

To her amusement, Haruka blushed again at this, and cleared her throat noisily; Michiru smiled and winked at her, then pulled her down for a tender kiss, suddenly feeling absurdly happy as she looked forward to the life she'd share with the blonde on Pandora, and on the adventures they surely would have together in the future.


End file.
